Abstract
Photosynthetic pigments in a warm core eddy of the East Australian Current were studied by in vivo fluorometry, spectrophotometry and TLC. The Variosens in situ fluorometer gave only an approximate guide to the location and quantity of phytoplankton in the water column; spectrophotometric curve analysis revealed the presence of intact or detrital chlorophylls and quantitative TLC showed that in some samples intact chlorophyll a accounted for only 50-70% of the total spectrophotometrically measured chllrophyll. The full range of chlorophylls, carotenoids and chlorophyll degradation products was recorded from the chromatograms.