economically, "dunaliella", particularly "d. salina" and "d. bardawil", serves great value due to its high accumulation of β-carotenoids. the pigment is exploited for a variety of uses such as cosmetics, natural food-colouring agents, nutritional supplements, and animal feed. it is also used for treating harmful wastewater plants through adsorbing, sequestering, and metabolizing heavy metal ions. its biotechnological potential has long been exploited ever since it was found that certain species can have up 16% of their dry-weight being composed of β-carotenoids and that lakes and lagoons that turn pink or red, contain very high populations of "d. salina" that make up as much as 13.8% of the dry organic matter – such as in pink lake, victoria, australia.