Specimen image via iDigBio
Pfiesteria
Sign in to saveAlso known as Pfiesteria piscicida
Pfiesteria is a genus of heterotrophic dinoflagellates that has been associated with harmful algal blooms and fish kills. Pfiesteria complex organisms (PCOs) were claimed to be responsible for large fish kills in the 1980s and 1990s on the coast of North Carolina and in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. In reaction to the toxic outbreaks, six states along the US east coast have initiated a monitoring program to allow for rapid response in the case of new outbreaks and to better understand the factors involved in Pfiesteria toxicity and outbreaks. New molecular detection methods have revealed
Species
GENUS
- KingdomChromista
- PhylumMyzozoa
- ClassDinophyceae
- OrderPeridiniales
- FamilyPfiesteriaceae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 3
- With media
- 3
- Family
- Pfiesteriaceae
- Collections
- US
- Recorded in
- Finland
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Discovery and naming
- Species
- Feeding strategy
- Controversy
- In fiction
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Pfiesteria is a genus of heterotrophic dinoflagellates that has been associated with harmful algal blooms and fish kills. Pfiesteria complex organisms (PCOs) were claimed to be responsible for large fish kills in the 1980s and 1990s on the coast of North Carolina and in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. In reaction to the toxic outbreaks, six states along the US east coast have initiated a monitoring program to allow for rapid response in the case of new outbreaks and to better understand the factors involved in Pfiesteria toxicity and outbreaks. New molecular detection methods have revealed that Pfiesteria has a worldwide distribution.
==Discovery and naming== Pfiesteria was discovered in 1988 by North Carolina State University researchers JoAnn Burkholder and Ed Noga. The genus was named after Lois Ann Pfiester (1936–1992), a biologist who did much of the early research on dinoflagellates.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Pfiesteria” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.