Protozoal predators severely limit the successful pond cultivation of the alga Haernatococcus for the commercial production of the aquaculture industry's natural colorant astaxanthin. Commercial producers frequently experience predatory attacks that eliminate 90% of their Haerru~ococcus biomass within 72 hours. The development of a cost effective, commercial-scale, in vitro, predatory-free production system is proposed.Applications:The current and rapidly growing trend towards farm-raised seafood is signficantly increasing the current $250 million world wide market for synthetic astaxanthin, especially in the production of salmon and shrimp. A successful project would avoid current algal pond cultivation problems caused by protozoa! predators and provide a cost-competitive natural alternative to current synthetic astaxanthin.
