A phantom of the ocean
Article Abstract:
A new marine dinoflagellate has been identified that kills and then consumes fish by producing a potent neurotoxin. JoAnn M. Burkholder and colleagues found the unicellular, microscopic and photosynthetic organism in two US estuaries but believe that it exists elsewhere and may have caused many unexplained fish kills. The organism remains dormant on the sea floor until live fish come near, whereupon it converts to a motile form that swims upward and releases the toxin. Unlike phytoplankton that secrete toxin, this organism obtains nutritional benefit from the fish its toxin kills.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
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Dolphins glow with the flow
Article Abstract:
Dinoflagellate bioluminescence is initiated by both laminar and turbulent flows, whenever the levels of shear stress are greater than 0.1 N m-2, according to research involving the analysis of the light output induced from natural populations of bioluminescent dinoflagellates by free-swimming dolphins. It was established that there are consistently low levels of bioluminescence over the rounded bump containing waxy material at the front of the dolphin's head and on the leading edges of the fins, where the surface shear stress is anticipated to be greatest.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1998
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New 'phantom' dinoflagellate is the causative agent of major estuarine fish kills
Article Abstract:
A newly discovered toxic dinoflagellate alga caused several hitherto unexplained fish kills in North Carolina's Pamlico and Neuse Estuaries and probably elsewhere as well. The new alga, which has been classified as a new family, genus and species in the order Dinamoebales, is also a phytoplankton whose life cycle requires it to kill large numbers of fish by producing a powerful neurotoxin. The alga remains on the sea floor in a dormant, encysted form until the approach of live fish causes it to become active and to release the toxin.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
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