We introduce a global data bank on body composition of aquatic organisms that is available at http://www.thomas-brey.de/science/virtualhandbook. It covers ratios between body mass (wet, dry, ash free dry mass), body composition (protein, lipid, carbohydrate), macro-elements (C, N, P) and energy content (J). Sofar, data for 3158 different taxa (animals, plants, bacteria) were collected from 725 different sources. The principal purpose of the data bank is mining for conversion factors, as necessary in ecological studies that require a common energetic currency. The data bank can be used to explore general ecological principles, too: among all animals, carnivorous swimmers have the highest energy density, presumably an across-taxon selection for propulsion power and handling force. Plants and animals do not only differ in their C/N and C/P ratios, but these ratios change with temperature in opposite directions. In plants, C/N and C/P increase with temperature, most likely a response to the higher levels of N and P in polar waters. In animals C/N and C/P decrease with temperature, an indicator for selection towards lower activity and larger lipid stores in polar animals. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.