Essay On Microalgae

Algae are simple plants that can range from the microscopic aquatic forms which are microalgae. Its typically live and free-floating at suspended in natural waters likes freshwater and marine systems living both the water column and sediment. They are unicellular, colonial, or filamentous forms. Microalgae include both cyanobacteria, (similar to bacteria, and formerly called “blue-green algae”) as well as green, brown and red algae. There are more varieties of microalgae, but these are the main ones.Most microalgae grow through photosynthesis by converting sunlight, CO2 and a few nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorous, into material known as biomass. This is called “autotrophic” growth. Other algae can grow in the dark using sugar or starch called “heterotrophic” growth or even combine both growth modes called “mixotrophic” growth.

Most marine invertebrates depend on microalgae for their whole life cycle, so commercial and experimental mollusc or fish hatcheries have included a microalgae production system in parallel to their animal production itself. Microalgae are utilized as live feed for all growth stages of bivalve mollusc such as oysters, scallops, clams and mussels and for zooplankton used in aquaculture food webs at large. Over the last four decades, several hundred microalgae species has been tasted as food, but properly less than twenty have gained widespread use in aquaculture. For example the type species of microalgae use in aquaculture are Tetraselmis sp.,Chaetoceros sp., Chlorella sp.Spirulina sp.,Chaetoceros sp., Nannochloropsis sp., Isochrysis sp. and