(Table 1) Abundance of bacterioplankton and cyanobacteria in waters of the East Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea

Distribution of cyanobacteria as compared with total bacterioplankton was studied in the Mediterranean Sea and off the west coast of Africa in November 1985 - January 1986. Fluorescent microscopy indicated that abund¬ance of chroococcoid cyanobacteria was 2 to 3 orders of magnitude lower than that of non-fluorescent bacteria. Cyanobacteria cells were larger than other bacterial cells and had in average 4 times larger volume. Biomass of cyanobacteria was significant percentage (5-15%) of total bacterioplankton biomass only in the surface interval (0-30 m).1985年11月至1986年1月，研究团队于地中海及非洲西海岸海域开展调查，对比分析了蓝细菌与总浮游细菌（bacterioplankton）的分布特征。经荧光显微镜观测，色球藻型蓝细菌（chroococcoid cyanobacteria）的丰度较非荧光细菌低2至3个数量级；其细胞体积大于其他浮游细菌，平均体积为后者的4倍。仅在0至30米的表层水层中，蓝细菌生物量占总浮游细菌生物量的比例可达5%~15%，为显著占比区间。