Marine Phytoplankton is the basis of the food chain for all animals living in the Ocean.

Through photosynthesis, marine phytoplankton utilizes chlorophyll and light to release oxygen into water, and in the process, huge quantities of carbon dioxide are converted into living matter. Marine phytoplankton have the ability to convert sunlight, water and inorganic minerals into amino acids, fatty acids, carbohydrates, vitamins and organic minerals.

Marine phytoplankton for human consumption may prove to be the most significant breakthrough in building health, reversing disease conditions, and providing a viable and Eco-friendly food source for the world. Marine phytoplankton appears to provide all the basic nutrients required by the cells of our body in a whole and natural,unprocessed food form.

Phytoplankton, like plants, obtain energy through a process called photosynthesis, and so must live in the well-lit surface layer (termed the euphotic zone) of an ocean, sea, or lake. Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton (and terrestrial plants) are responsible for much of the oxygen present in the Earth's atmosphere. Their cumulative energy fixation in carbon compounds (primary production) is the basis for the vast majority of oceanic and some freshwater food chains (chemosynthesis is a notable exception). As a side note, one of the more remarkable food-chains in the ocean—remarkable because of the small number of links—is that of phytoplankton fed on by krill (a type of shrimp) fed on by baleen whales.

While almost all phytoplankton species are obligate photoautotrophs, there are some that are mixotrophic and other, non-pigmented species that are actually heterotrophic (the latter are often viewed as zooplankton). Of these, the best known are dinoflagellate genera such as Noctiluca and Dinophysis, that obtain organic carbon by ingesting other organisms or detrital material.