In article ,
[BGGS] wrote...

Thank you for the replies to date to my enquiry.
Next question; are there any aquatic plants (seaweeds) growing in the Dead
Sea, or is the salt concentration too high for them?
Thanks
Fred.

I'd like to know more about that too. Is it a barren salt pool or does it
enjoy a unique flora which is salt - resistant?

From a quick web search:

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a...ia/default.asp:

"In the February 8, 1997 issue of New Scientist (page 37), "Left for
Dead" reports on plans to "rescue" the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea
with waters from the Red Sea. The decrease in salinity may threaten
its fragile, simple ecology. The Dead Sea currently averages 340 grams
of salt per liter, including high concentrations of magnesium and
calcium, making it unsuitable for the multicellular organisms that
inhabit other high-salt waters. Only two groups of organisms -- the
unicellular green alga Dunaliella parva and a group of archaebacteria,
live in the sea. Scientists fear that decreases in salinity and the
ionic concentrations of magnesium and calcium threaten these unique
organisms."

http://www.angelfire.com/on2/daviddarling/halophile.htm

"halophiles

Microbes, including bacteria and archaea, which live, grow, and
multiply in highly saline environments. Extreme halophiles, all of
which are archaea apart from the green alga Dunaliella salina, inhabit
water that is up to 10 times more saline than ordinary sea-water
(approximately 30 percent salt content) including that found in the
Great Salt Lake in Utah, Owens Lake in California, the Dead Sea, and
saltines. They are mostly aerobic, have specialized cell walls, and
incorporate pigmentation in the form of bacteriorhodopsin, for
photosynthesis, and carotenoids for ultraviolet protection. To prevent
an exodus of water from the cell, halophiles offset the high salt in
the environment by accumulating such compounds as potassium and
glycine-betaine."

http://zdna2.umbi.umd.edu/~dassarma/halophiles.pdf

[an article on extreme halophiles, including those of the
Dead Sea]

http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Bact303/Maj...sOfProkaryotes

"Extreme halophiles live in natural environments such as the Dead
Sea, the Great Salt Lake, or evaporating ponds of seawater where the
salt concentration is veryhigh (as high as 5 molar or 25 percent NaCl).
These prokaryotes require salt for growth and will not grow at low salt
concentrations. Their cell walls, ribosomes, and enzymes are stabilized
by Na+. Halobacterium halobium, the prevalent species in the Great Salt
Lake, adapts to the high-salt environment by the development of "purple
membrane", actually patches of light-harvesting pigment in the plasma
membrane. The pigment is a type of rhodopsin called bacteriorhodopsin
which reacts with light in a way that forms a proton gradient on the
membrane allowing the synthesis of ATP. This is the only example in
nature of non photosynthetic photophosphorylation. These organisms are
heterotrophs that normally respire by aerobic means. The high
concentration of NaCl in their environment limits the availability of
O2 for respiration so they are able to supplement their ATP-producing
capacity by converting light energy into ATP using bacteriorhodopsin."


http://www.isslr.org/directory/alldirectory.asp

Hope that helps.