700 



Marine Microbiology 



of microbial cells takes place every twenty minutes. Under nat- 

 ural conditions the division of cells takes a less rapid course. The 

 ratio of accretion of the biological mass in a certain period of time 

 (P) to its initial size (B) is a coefficient, which biologists consider 

 as a measure of the rate of multiplication. It has been determined 

 that the twenty-four hours' coefficient P/B for the microorganisms 

 inhabiting the Sea of Azov is 1.2-6.2. In the northern part of the 

 Caspian Sea, the microorganisms are able to increase five to six 

 times their biological mass in twenty-four hours, the coeflRcient 

 P/B being 3.01-6.5. Such a high rate of multiplication is indicati\ e 

 of an active consumption of bacteria by higher organisms since 

 their quantity preserves a rather constant level. 



TABLE 1 



Quantity and Biological Mass of Microorganisms 

 IN THE Water of Various Oceans and Seas 



Oceans or Sea Bacteria per ml Biomass of Reference 



bacteria in mg/m^ 



Arctic Ocean 



(region of North Pole) 

 Pacific Ocean 

 (north-western part) 

 Atlantic Ocean 

 (north-western 

 seaboard of Africa) 



Black Sea 

 Sea of Azov 

 Caspian Sea 

 (northern part) 



35-39,000 



33-180,000 



0.03-1.8 



0.008-25 



24,000-54,000 1.7-61.7 



3,000-500,000 7.7-43.1 

 40,000-140,000 16-76 



500-500,000 



30-750 



Kriss, (13) 

 Kriss and 

 Biryuzova, (14) 



Zhukova, 1959 

 Kriss, Lebedeva 

 and Rukina, (15) 

 Zhukova, (32) 



Osnitskaya, (21) 



The work of the predominant number of various physiologi- 

 cal groups of bacteria is directed at the destruction of the organic 

 matter. The half-decayed remains of animals and plants, united 

 by the concept of "detritus," contain masses of microbial cells. 

 One gram of damp detritus contains up to 5 billion cells. The 

 microbial cells create detritus and at tlie same time tliey are a 

 component part of it; together with detritus thev get into tlie in- 

 testines of invertebrates. Tlie analysis of tlie contents of intestines 

 of aquatic invertebrates shows, as a rule, that it consists, in the 

 main, of an amorphous mass witli a small percentage of preser\ ed 



