Dinoflagellates

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Dinoflagellates
Lauren MacLeod 100056772
Ceratium lineatus

• Geology 3213
• Micropaleontology
• November 18th, 2005

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What are Dinoflagellates?

• Microscopic algae-like organisms
• Members of the Protista kingdom
• 20-150 µm
• The theca is
• made of
• cellulose
• plates

Ceratium hirundiella, a freshwater dinoflagellate
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What are Dinoflagellates?

• 90 are marine plankton
• ½ are photosynthetic
• Many can be found as symbiotic partners to
  sponges, corals, jellyfish and flatworms
• Dinoflagellates are primarily asexual, and
  reproduce by mitosis, only a few species have
  been found to reproduce sexually

Florentinia SEM Image
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Taxonomy

• Kingdom Protoctista
• Phylum Pyrrophyta
• Class Dinophyceae
• Order Lophodiniales
• Family Ceratiaceae
• Genus Ceratium
• C. tripos
• Order Peridiniales
• Family Gonyaulacaceae
• Genus Gonyaulax
• G. polyedra

Peridiniopsis quadridens
Woloszynskia coronata
Note the sulcul flagellum
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Morphology
Longitidunal
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Life Cycle
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Movement

• Dinoflagellates move by whirling their
  flagella, and swim in a spiral fashion
• Species such as Ceratium are slow moving, while
  Gyroidinium are fast moving

Gyrodinium spiralis
Ceritinium ranipes has arms that look like a
frogs legs
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Bioluminescence

• Members of the phylum Phyrrophyta, meaning
  Fire-Plant
• Produce light when LUCIFERIN is oxidized by
  LUCIFERASE (enzyme), when ATP and oxygen are
  present
• The dinoflagellates glow as it gets dark and
  brighten when agitated (such as in the wake of a
  ship)
• Noctiluca was the first genus where this was
  noted, but it has been discovered that it occurs
  in several marine species

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Red Tides

• Late summer, upwelling causes a burst of
  dinoflagellates (up to 20 million/liter), causing
  the water to have a reddish color
• The dinoflagellates produce high quantities of
  neurotoxins which travel up the food chain
• Humans are influenced by contracting CIGUATERA
  and then PSP or paralytic shellfish poisoning
• Saxitoxin 100,000 times more potent then
  cocaine
• Gessnerium monilatum is the most common PSP
  producer in the N. Atlantic

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Palentological Significance

• Triassic to Pleistocene dinoflagellate
• zonations are correlated with
• Cretaceous to Tertiary planktonic foraminiferal
  and calcareous nanofossil zones
• Jurassic and Cretaceous ammonite zones
• An absolute time scale and sequence stratigraphy.
  

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Fossil Record

• Dinoflagellate cysts were first found in late
  Triassic rocks
• Diverse and abundant cysts increase in Md.
  Jurassic
• Cysts still occur in present marine sedimentary
  rocks and some non-marine strata

Late Jurassic cyst Systematophora penicillata
Stephanelytron redcliffense a Late Jurassic
dinoflagellate cyst
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Pfiesteria piscicida

• This unique species of recent dinoflagellate is a
  Fish Killer
• It produces a toxin which attacks the surface of
  fish
• Once the toxin attacks the surface of the fish,
  P. piscicida feeds on the disaggregated and
  decomposing fish carcass

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Other Dinoflagellate Forms
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References

• http//hjem.get2net.dk/niels_e_poulsen/dino/dino-u
  k.htm
• http//www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/biolum/organism/pictu
  res/dinos.html
• http//www.ucl.ac.uk/GeolSci/micropal/dinoflagella
  te.htmlrange
• http//www.geo.ucalgary.ca/macrae/palynology/dino
  flagellates/dinoflagellates.html
• http//geology.er.usgs.gov/paleo/dinoflag.shtml
• http//www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/protista/dinoflagella
  ta.html
• http//www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/protista/dinoflaglh.h
  tml
• http//www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?
  http//www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artsep01/dinof
  .html