Basic Facts
E. huxleyi was named after Thomas Huxley and Cesare Emiliani, who were the first to examine sea-bottom sediment and discover the coccoliths within it. It is the most numerically abundant and widespread coccolithophore species. Its coccoliths are transparent and commonly colourless, but are formed of calcite which refracts light very efficiently in the water column. This, and the high concentrations caused by continual shedding of their coccoliths makes E. huxleyi blooms easily visible from space. Satellite images show that blooms can cover large areas, with complementary shipboard measurements indicating that E. huxleyi is by far the dominant phytoplankton species under these conditions. This species has been an inspiration for James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis which claims that living organisms collectively self regulate biogeochemistry and climate at nonrandom metastable states.
Read more about this topic: Emiliania Huxleyi
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