Trichodesmium

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Trichodesmium
Trichodesmium bloom off the Great Barrier Reef
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Bacteria
Phylum: Cyanobacteria
Class: Cyanophyceae
Order: Oscillatoriales
Family: Microcoleaceae
Genus: Trichodesmium
Ehrenberg ex Gomont, 1892
Species

Trichodesmium contortum
Trichodesmium erythraeum
Trichodesmium hildebrandtii
Trichodesmium radians
Trichodesmium tenue
Trichodesmium thiebautii

Trichodesmium, or "sea sawdust", is a genus of filamentous cyanobacteria. They are found in nutrient-poor tropical and subtropical ocean waters.

They are most common around Australia and in the Red Sea, where they were first described by Captain Cook.

Trichodesmium is a diazotroph; that is, it fixes atmospheric nitrogen into ammonium, a nutrient used by other organisms. Trichodesmium is thought to fix nitrogen on such a scale that it accounts for almost half of the nitrogen fixation in marine systems globally.[1][2]

References[change | change source]

  1. Bergman, B.; Sandh, G.; Lin, S.; Larsson, H.; Carpenter, E. J. (2012). "Trichodesmium – a widespread marine cyanobacterium with unusual nitrogen fixation properties". FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 37 (3): 1–17. doi:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2012.00352.x. PMC 3655545. PMID 22928644.
  2. Carpenter, E.J.; Capone, D.G.; Rueter, J.G., eds. (1991). Marine Pelagic Cyanobacteria: Trichodesmium and other diazothrophs. Dordrecht.: Kluwer Academic Publishers.