Marine Agar

This is the most widely used medium for growing samples taken from marine or estuarine habitats, since offers a rich medium for the marine bacteria to grow. But it is not recommended for further analysis of bacteria (purification, identification, etc.) because of the high concentration of ions.

It is available from commercial sources (Difco Marine agar 2216), but a simple and effective medium can be prepared in the lab from commonly available ingredients, as recommended by Jannasch and Jones (1959 Limnol Oceanogr 4(2):128-139).