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dinoflagellate
(redirected from Dinoflagellates)

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dinoflagellate

Any of numerous one-celled, aquatic organisms that have two dissimilar flagella and characteristics of both plants (algae) and animals (protozoans). Most are microscopic and marine. The group is an important component of phytoplankton in all but the colder seas, and it is an important link in the food chain. Dinoflagellates also produce part of the luminescence sometimes seen in the sea. Under favourable conditions, dinoflagellate populations may reach 60 million organisms per litre of water. Such rapid growths, called blooms, result in the red tides that discolour the sea and poison fish and other marine animals. See also Ceratium.



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First I thought it was a mistake, that it was a sample from another location, not Antarctica, because of the unusual abundance in microscopic fossil cysts of marine algae called dinoflagellates.
The formation of resting cysts in dinoflagellates is part of sexual reproduction and occurs at the end of a bloom (Dale 1983).
These chemicals have since been found in other bioluminescent organisms, ranging from single-celled dinoflagellates to certain petite squids.
 
 
 
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