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dinoflagellate

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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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This is unusual because the Antarctic ice sheet was formed about 35 million years ago, and the frigid temperatures there impede the presence of woody plants and blooms of dinoflagellate algae.
An overabundance of dinoflagellate producing these toxins can turn water the telltale reddish color that is so dreaded.
resting cysts, unlike many other dinoflagellate cysts, possess an outer layer of calcite beneath which is a thin sporopollenin wall.
 
 
 
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