Seventy percent of the earth’s surface is covered by sea, and about 80% of all animal species dwells in the sea. The oceans are where life first began; in the three-billion-year history of the evolution of life, it was only in the range of hundreds of millions years ago when life forms first arrived from the sea to land. Those organisms that arrived on terrestrial represented just a small fraction of all marine creatures, and innumerable others continue evolving independently in the sea to this day. It is therefore explicit that marine organisms are living in the extreme condition and produce unique substances that cannot be produced by terrestrial-based organisms, which can perform multitude of functions for human benefits. Furthermore, sea bearing high-pressure environment, averaging about 380 atm, the marine organisms undoubtedly should possess distinctive mechanisms to withstanding this. With average temperatures of 1–4 °C, seawater is also an optimal environment to inhabit psychrophilic (cold-loving) organisms. Interestingly, the sea floor is also home to organisms with enhanced ability to withstand high temperatures, suggesting even further applications. At the bottom of the seas are hydrothermal deposits where water is discharged at temperatures of over 300 °C. Considering the existence of such extreme environment, it is well understood that marine biomaterials can be exploited for the benefits of human cause in many ways. These marine organisms hold truly great potential for future applications in marine biotechnology. Marine organisms remain integral to human lives either as an alternative source of protein, natural products, or as potential biomaterial source for industrial purpose. In recent years, rapid advancements in scientific application of marine biotechnology have been witnessed, particularly in the area of natural product development, marine bioenergy, seaweed biotechnology, aquaculture, genomics, cosmeceutical, nutraceuticals, pharmaceutical development, transgenic technology, genetic recombination, cell fusion, and ultrafiltration membranes.

The springer handbook of marine biotechnology provides, for the first time, a complete and consistent overview of the methods, applications, and products of marine biotechnology. Since a large portion of the surface of the earth is covered by the oceans and more than 80% of living organisms are found in aquatic ecosystems, they constitute a rich reservoir for various chemical materials and (bio-)chemical processes. Marine biotechnology studies these biochemical materials and processes from marine sources and makes them available to applications as pharma-ceuticals, cosmeceuticals or nutraceuticals as well as for the production of bioenergy and biofuels. Edited by prof. Dr. Se-Kwon Kim, a renowned expert with a longstanding experience, and including over 60 chapters from leading international scientists, this handbook is a major authoritative desk reference for everyone interested or working in the field of marine biotechnology and bioprocessing. The handbook is divided into 10 parts. Part A: marine flora and fauna. Part B: tools and methods in marine biotechnology. Part C: marine genomics. Part D: marine algal biotechnology. Part E: marine microbiology and biotechnology. Part F: marine-derived metabolites. Part G: application of marine biotechnology. Part H: bioenergy and biofuels. Part I: bio-medical applications. Part J: industrial applications.

"Preface Seafood is simply "food from the sea". It comes in various forms and is used as food for human beings. Seafood predominantly includes fish, crustaceans, mollusks and seaweeds. It is one of the important sources of protein and nutrients for human health. This book contains a total 21 chapters. Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to the topics covered in this book and also the seafood production statistics around the globe. Chapter 2, 4 and 7 give information related to seafood processing methods such as fermentation, cooking, and MALDI-TOF for the seafood production and safety assessment. Chapter 5, 6, 8 and 10 cover fish protein and fish oil. Chapter 11 deals about chitosan as bio based nanocomposites in seafood industry and aquaculture. Chapter 14, 15 and 16 deal with seaweed production and their applications. Chapter 17 and 18 cover the biological application of seafood in food industry. Chapter 19 and 21 describe the health benefit value and discuss health risk of seafood. Overall, this book provides details about seafood (fish, crustaceans, mollusks and seaweed) processing methods, biological applications, health benefits and health risk. These contributions will form essential reading for seafood scientists and can serve as instructional course for students. I am grateful to all the authors who have provided the state-of-art contributions in the field of seafood. Their relentless effort was the result of scientific attitude, drawn from the past history in this field. Busan, South Korea Prof. Se-Kwon Kim "