National Institute of Polar Research/Department of Polar Science, School of Mathematical and Physical Science, The Graduated University for Advanced Studies, National Institute of Polar Research/National Institute of Polar Research
We observed morphological and growth properties of diatoms isolated from Saroma Ko lagoon, and cultured them under a low-temperature condition (1.7°C ). Seven strains which belonged to three genera, Chaetoceros (2 strains), Navicula (2 strains), and Nitzschia (3 strains) were used for the present study. Each strain showed slightly different growth rate, lag and logarithmic growth phase lengths; however, they never showed any signs of occurrence of the senescent phase in 40 days of experiments. After the logarithmic growth phase, chlorophyll fluorescence of all cultures kept nearly the maximum level (stationary phase), at least for 10 days. Logarithmic growth rates under 1.7°C temperature ranged from 0.27 to 0.47 d^<-1>, suggesting psychrophilic growth ability of all isolated strains.