Chaetoceros mertensii, H.L. Honigmann, a marine planktonic diatom species in the genus Chaetoceros
The dam harbours high concentrations of blue-green algae (Spirulina spp) and diatoms (Cyclotella spp.), the main food sources for its plentiful Lesser Flamingos.
Its middle and upper Miocene upwelling-rich assemblages, and its unique highly siliceous rocks from diatom-rich plankton, became diatomites, porcelainites, and banded cherts.
Other fossil cetaceans have also been found in the area, as well as a fish, a diverse invertebrate fauna that includes molluscs, gastropods, marine diatoms, and Antarctica’s first Pliocene decapod crustacean.
A transmembrane nitrate reductase that can function as a proton pump (similar to the case of anaerobic respiration) has been discovered in a diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii.