Geographical distribution of red and green Noctiluca scintillans

The dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans is one of the most important and abundant red tide organisms and it is distributed world-wide. It occurs in two forms. Red Noctiluca is heterotrophic and fills the role of one of the microzooplankton grazers in the foodweb. In contrast, green Noctiluca contai...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Chinese journal of oceanology and limnology 2011-07, Vol.29 (4), p.807-831
Main Authors:	Harrison, P. J., Furuya, K., Glibert, P. M., Xu, J., Liu, H. B., Yin, K., Lee, J. H. W., Anderson, D. M., Gowen, R., Al-Azri, A. R., Ho, A. Y. T.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Algae Bacillariophyceae Coastal zone Diatoms Dinoflagellates Earth and Environmental Science Earth Sciences Estuaries Eutrophication Food Food chains Food sources Food supply Foods Geographical distribution Marine Marine microorganisms Noctiluca Noctiluca scintillans Ocean circulation Oceanography Photosynthesis Plankton Productivity Red tide Red tides Seasons Species and Species-Specific Patterns and Responses Upwelling Zooplankton 光合作用地理分布夜光藻微型浮游动物温度范围赤潮生物阿拉伯海食草动物
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Summary:	The dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans is one of the most important and abundant red tide organisms and it is distributed world-wide. It occurs in two forms. Red Noctiluca is heterotrophic and fills the role of one of the microzooplankton grazers in the foodweb. In contrast, green Noctiluca contains a photosynthetic symbiont Pedinomonas noctilucae （a prasinophyte）, but it also feeds on other plankton when the food supply is abundant. In this review, we document the global distribution of these two forms and include the first maps of their global distribution. Red Noctiluca occurs widely in the temperate to sub-tropical coastal regions of the world. It occurs over a wide temperature range of about 10℃ to 25℃ and at higher salinities （generally not in estuaries）. It is particularly abundant in high productivity areas such as upwelling or eutrophic areas where diatoms dominate since they are its preferred food source. Green Noctiluca is much more restricted to a temperature range of 25℃-30℃ and mainly occurs in tropical waters of Southeast Asia, Bay of Bengal （east coast of India）, in the eastern, western and northern Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and recently it has become very abundant in the Gulf of Oman. Red and green Noctiluca do overlap in their distribution in the eastern, northern and western Arabian Sea with a seasonal shift from green Noctiluca in the cooler winter convective mixing, higher productivity season, to red Noctiluca in the more oligotrophic warmer summer season.
ISSN:	0254-4059 2096-5508 1993-5005 2523-3521