Sea microbes underestimated

SEA-LIVING microbes collectively weigh more than 200 billion elephants, scientists have revealed.

New research has shown marine bugs are far more abundant than was previously thought and make up 50% to 90% of all the biological material, or “biomass”, in the oceans.

Experts estimate their numbers at about 10 to the power of 30 – or 1,000 times a billion times a billion times a billion.