Unveiling new microbial eukaryotes in the surface ocean
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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology
Published on: November 5, 2014
Ramon Massana1, Carlos Pedrós-Alió
1Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC, Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. ramonm@icm.csic.es
Abstract:
A decade after molecular techniques were used to discover novel bacteria and archaea in the oceans, the same approach has revealed a wealth of new marine eukaryotic microbes. The approach has been particularly successful with the smallest eukaryotes, where morphological and culture approaches frequently fail. Analysis of samples from the surface ocean, the most accessible and supposedly well-known oceanic region, reveals novel eukaryotic diversity at all different levels: from the highest taxonomic rank to the lowest microdiverse clusters. Moreover, marine eukaryotic assemblages show a large diversity with members belonging to many different lineages. The implication of this large and novel eukaryotic diversity for biodiversity surveys and ecosystem functioning opens new avenues for future research.
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