marine snow

British  

noun

1. small particles of organic biogenic marine sediment, including the remains of organisms, faecal matter, and the shells of planktonic oganisms, that slowly drift down to the sea floor

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Example Sentences

And that marine snow becomes food for the creatures of the deep.

From Salon • Feb. 17, 2025

Those particles - the marine snow - sink to the ocean floor.

From BBC • Aug. 9, 2024

It was hunting for marine snow - “poo, basically” in the words of one researcher.

From BBC • Aug. 9, 2024

But even with a research boat and its expensive and unwieldy equipment, an individual piece of marine snow is not easily retrieved from deep water in the actual ocean.

From New York Times • Apr. 3, 2022

Those bacteria snack on nutrients that float down from the surface—so-called "marine snow."

From Scientific American • Dec. 22, 2014