suggested that s. costatum may be useful in the remediation of heavy metals from ocean ecosystems as it has a high affinity for iron and other heavy metals like manganese. human applications aquaculture feed skeletonema costatum has been cultivated for use in aquaculture as feed for fish, shrimp, oysters, crab larvae, and more. production of biofuels skeletonema costatum is used in biofuel production because of its high lipid and fatty acid content, rapid growth rate, high photosynthetic efficiency, and high tolerance to variations in ph, temperature, and salinity levels. when exposed to stress conditions such as depleted silicon and phosphate concentrations and high irradiation, it produces neutral lipids like triacylglycerol (tag) which are ideal for making biofuel. these tags are extracted and converted to fatty acid methyl esters (fame), which are molecules comprising the biofuel, using direct transesterification. production of natural products skeletonema costatum is also a source of natural products, which are secondary metabolites produced by microorganisms that can be used in pharmaceutical applications. the extracts of this diatom were found to have prospective use as a central nervous system relaxant that acts like an anti-dopaminergic drug with anticholinergic effects. it also has potential as an antipsychotic drug. aside from these, antibacterial active compounds extracted from s. costatum using ethanol and methanol were also found to inhibit certain human pathogens, such as staphylococcus aureus, proteus mirabilis, and vibrio cholerae.