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Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences logoLink to Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
. 2002 Jan 22;269(1487):211–214. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2001.1852

Discovery of the toxic dinoflagellate Pfiesteria in northern European waters.

Kjetill S Jakobsen 1, Torstein Tengs 1, Andreas Vatne 1, Holly A Bowers 1, David W Oldach 1, JoAnn M Burkholder 1, Howard B Glasgow Jr 1, Parke A Rublee 1, Dag Klaveness 1
PMCID: PMC1690870  PMID: 11798438

Abstract

Several dinoflagellate strains of the genus Pfiesteria were isolated by culturing techniques from sediment samples taken in the Oslofjord region of Norway. Pfiesteria piscicida, well known as a fish killer from the Atlantic coast of America, was identified by genetic methods and light microscopy. The related species Pfiesteria shumwayae was attracted from the sediment by the presence of fish, and has proved toxic. This present survey demonstrates the wide distribution of these potentially harmful species, but so far they have not been connected with fish kills in Europe.

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Selected References

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