Microalgae play indeed a crucial nutritional role with regard to marine animals in the open
sea, and consequently in aquaculture. Most marine invertebrates depend on microalgae for
their whole life cycle, so commercial and experimental mollusc or fish hatcheries have
included a microalga production system in parallel to their animal production itself.
Microalgae are utilized as live feed for all growth stages of bivalve molluscs (e.g. oysters,
scallops, clams and mussels), for larval/early juvenile stages of abalone, crustaceans and
some fish species, and for zooplankton used in aquaculture food webs at large. It should be
emphasized that the productivity of any hatchery is directly related to the quantity and
quality of the food source used therein