Algae And Protists Codexery

Dinoflagellate

Single-celled protists causing red tides and bioluminescence.

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Single-celled eukaryotes that are protists and belong to the phylum Dinoflagellata are called dinoflagellates.[1] While they are predominantly found as marine plankton, freshwater environments also commonly host them.[2] Sea surface temperature, salinity, and depth are factors that influence how their populations are distributed.[2]

Scientific classification

  1. CladeEukaryota
  2. CladeSar<!-- Do not change Sar to SAR. The consensus was to use Sar in the taxonomy template. -->
  3. CladeAlveolata

Named by Bütschli 1885

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Dinoflagellate (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Quick Facts

Field
Protistology, Marine Biology
Known for
  • Red tide harmful algal blooms
  • bioluminescence
  • mixotrophy
  • dinokaryon nucleus
Etymology
Greek 'dinos' (whirling) + Latin 'flagellum' (whip)

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg proposed several still-used dinoflagellate genera in the 1830s, including Peridinium, Prorocentrum, and Dinophysis.[3] Otto Bütschli first defined dinoflagellates as the flagellate order Dinoflagellida in 1885.[4] They have a complex cell covering called an amphiesma or cortex.[5] A 2017 report by Bob Yirka on Phys.org described researchers filming a dinoflagellate shooting a harpoon-like organelle at prey.[6]

These organisms are unicellular and have two flagella that are not alike, both originating from the cell's ventral side.[7] The same report noted that another dinoflagellate, neatodinium, shoots multiple rounds of nematocysts like a Gatling gun.[6]

What the cited sources add

A 2005 checklist by F. Gómez in Acta Botanica Croatica listed 1,555 free-living marine dinoflagellate species across 117 genera.[8] The same checklist reported 135 new species described between 1993 and 2003.[8] That report also noted that the nozzle-like structures were similar between different dinoflagellate weapon types, tying together systems from the same lineage.[6] One mechanism relies on a single pressurized capsule, while the other launches 11 to 15 projectiles from a Gatling-gun arrangement.[6]

A Phys.org report from April 3, 2017 stated that dinoflagellates are more complex than previously thought.[6] The paper in Science Advances cited in the report described two fundamentally different ballistic mechanisms in dinoflagellate nematocysts.[6]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Dinoflagellate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "A classification of living and fossil dinoflagellates", Sheridan Press, 1993 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Dinoflagellate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Mixotrophy among Dinoflagellates", The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 1999, p. 397–401; "Progress in Botany: Genetics Physiology Systematics Ecology", Springer, 2012-12-06 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Dinoflagellate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ehrenberg C.G. (1832) Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Organisation der Infusorien und ihrer geographischer Verbreitung, besonders in Sibirien. — Abhandlungen der Köni (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Dinoflagellate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bütschli O. (1885) 3. Unterabtheilung (Ordnung) Dinoflagellata. – In: Dr. H.G. Bronn's Klassen und Ordnungen des Thier-Reichs, wissenschaftlich dargestellt in W (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Dinoflagellate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Ultrastructure of the Dinoflagellate Amphiesma", 1983, p. 151–80; "Ch. 3: Dinoflagellate cell cortex", Academic Press, 2012-12-02, p. 43–106 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. "Researchers capture dinoflagellate on video shooting harpoons at prey". facts only, no text reused. phys.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Dinoflagellate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Taylor FJR, "Non-helical transverse flagella in dinoflagellates", Phycologia, March 1975, p. 45–7; "The propulsive mechanism of the dinoflagellate transverse flagellum reconsidered", Bio Systems, April 1976, p. 33–39; "Form and function of the dinoflagellate transverse flagellum", J. Protozool., May 1985, p. 290–6 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. "A list of free-living dinoflagellate species in the world's oceans", Acta Botanica Croatica, 2005, p. 129–212. facts only, no text reused. hrcak.srce.hr

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Dinoflagellate (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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