Emiliania huxleyi

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Emiliania huxleyi
A scanning electron micrograph of a single Emiliania huxleyi cell.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
(unranked):	Haptophyta
Class:	Prymnesiophyceae
Order:	Isochrysidales
Family:	Noelaerhabdaceae
Genus:	Emiliania
Species:	E. huxleyi
Binomial name
Emiliania huxleyi (Lohm.) Hay and Mohler

Emiliania huxleyi is a species of coccolithophore found in almost all ocean ecosystems from the equator to sub-polar regions, and from nutrient rich upwelling zones to nutrient poor oligotrophic waters.^[1][2][3][4] It is one of thousands of different photosynthetic plankton that freely drift in the photic zone of the ocean, forming the basis of virtually all marine food webs. It is studied for the extensive blooms it forms in nutrient-depleted waters after the reformation of the summer thermocline. Like other coccolithophores, E. huxleyi is a single-celled phytoplankton covered with uniquely ornamented calcite disks called coccoliths. Individual coccoliths are abundant in marine sediments although complete coccospheres are more unusual. In the case of E. huxleyi, not only the shell, but also the soft part of the organism may be recorded in sediments. It produces a group of chemical compounds that are very resistant to decomposition. These chemical compounds, known as alkenones, can be found in marine sediments long after other soft parts of the organisms have decomposed. Alkenones are most commonly used by earth scientists as a means to estimate past sea surface temperatures.