Analysis of the phytoplankton community shows
that the spring phytoplankton community is dominated by a small
number of diatom genera at both sites. These include Chaetoceros,
Skeletonema, Thalassiosira, and Pseudo-nitzschia ‘delicatissima’ type
cells. The autumn diatom bloom at Loch Ewe was more pronounced
than at Stonehaven often exceeding 0.8 × 106 cells L−1