On the Chemical Composition of Eleven Species of Marine Phytoplankters

Eleven species of marine planktonic representatives of the Chlorophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Dinophyceae and Myxophyceae have been analyzed for their chemical composition. All species were grown under similar physical and chemical conditions and cells were analyzed during the exponential phase of growth. Chemical analyses consisted of a proximate analysis of each species for ash, protein, carbohydrate and lipid, and an analysis for carbon, silicon and phosphorus, as well as quantitative determinations of the monosaccharides and amino acids in hydrolysates of whole cells. The principal finding of this report is that marine phytoplankton have very similar organic composition when grown under similar physical and chemical conditions, regardless of the size of the organism or the class to which it belongs.