Particulate carbohydrates in the Bay of Bengal

Abstract

Particulate matter collected from 77 water samples over a 3000 m water column was analyzed for particulate carbohydrates (PCHO). PCHO in the surface waters ranged from 43 to 143 mu g.l-1, and below 250 m it was 16.PCHO showed large variations at all the depths and decreased with depth. PCHO values were higher than those reported from the other oceanic regions. Despite this, PCHO demonstrated similar depth gradient as observed in other oceanic waters