Chlorella, deriving its name from the Greek, "chloros" meaning green and "ella" meaning small, is a green algae that grows in fresh water. Chlorella emerged over 2 billion years ago, and was the first form of a plant with a well-defined nucleus.

Each chlorella microorganism is composed of a nucleus, starch grains, chloroplasts and mitochondria surrounded by a cell wall composed mainly of cellulose.

Under the proper growing conditions, Chlorella yields oils high in polyunsaturated fats. In fact, Chlorella minutissima has yielded EPA at 39.9% of total lipids.

References

Yongmanitchai (1991 February). "Growth of and omega-3 fatty acid production by Phaeodactylum tricornutum under different culture conditions.". Appl Environ Microbiol. 57 (2): 419-425. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.?