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Dr Ralph A Lewin
Emeritus Professor of Marine Biology
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0202 USA
Phone: 858 534 4836 Fax: 858 534 7313 Email: rlewin@ucsd.edu
Street Address: 8750 Biological Grade, 3110 Hubbs Hall, La Jolla, CA 92037 USA
When a newly exposed surface of a stone, shell, piece of glass or plastic is immersed in seawater, within a few hours it becomes coated with a primary film of bacteria. Soon afterwards, browsing microbes begin to take over; among these, some may prove sources of biologically active compounds of potential application in pharmacy, and are therefore worthy of further isolation and study in pure culture. Many unicellular algae in axenic culture likewise merit attention.
Picocystis salinarum under UV light;
nuclei fluorescing blue
Photo: David Smith
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