Editing Haptophyte (section)

==Significance==

The best-known haptophytes are [[coccolithophore]]s, which make up 673 of the 762 described haptophyte species,<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.algaebase.org/pub_taxonomy/?id=97244 | title = Haptophyta | work = Algaebase | access-date = 2019-10-27 | archive-date = 2021-02-18 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210218200436/https://www.algaebase.org/pub_taxonomy/?id=97244 | url-status = dead }}</ref> and have an exoskeleton of calcareous plates called [[coccolith]]s. Coccolithophores are some of the most abundant marine [[phytoplankton]], especially in the open ocean, and are extremely abundant as microfossils, forming [[chalk]] deposits.  Other planktonic haptophytes of note include ''[[Chrysochromulina]]'' and ''[[Prymnesium]]'', which periodically form toxic marine [[algal bloom]]s, and ''[[Phaeocystis]]'', blooms of which can produce unpleasant foam which often accumulates on beaches.<ref name=Cuvelier/>

Haptophytes are economically important, as species such as ''[[Pavlova (algae)|Pavlova lutheri]]'' and ''[[Isochrysis]] sp.'' are widely used in the [[aquaculture]] industry to feed [[oyster]] and [[shrimp]] larvae. They contain a large amount of [[polyunsaturated fatty acid]]s such as [[docosahexaenoic acid]] (DHA), [[stearidonic acid]] and [[alpha-linolenic acid]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Renaud SM, Zhou HC, Parry DL, Thinh LV, Woo KC |doi=10.1007/BF00003948 |title=Effect of temperature on the growth, total lipid content and fatty acid composition of recently isolated tropical microalgae Isochrysis sp., Nitzschia closterium, Nitzschia paleacea, and commercial species Isochrysis sp. (clone T.ISO) |journal=Journal of Applied Phycology |volume=7 |issue=6 |pages=595–602 |year=1995 |s2cid=206766536 }}</ref> ''Tisochrysis lutea'' contains betain lipids and [[phospholipid]]s.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kato M, Sakai M, Adachi K, Ikemoto H, Sano H |doi=10.1016/0031-9422(96)00115-X |title=Distribution of betaine lipids in marine algae |journal=Phytochemistry |volume=42 |issue=5 |pages=1341–5 |year=1996 }}</ref>