Comparison of short-term toxicity of 14 common phycotoxins(alone and in combination)to the survival of brine shrimp Artemia salina

Toxic harmful algal blooms(HABs)can cause deleterious effects in marine organisms,threatening the stability of marine ecosystems.It is well known that different strains,natural populations and growth conditions of the same toxic algal species may lead to different amount of phycotoxin production and the ensuing toxicity.To fully assess the ecological risk of toxic HABs,it is of great importance to investigate the toxic effects of phycotoxins in marine organisms.In this study,the short-term toxicity of 14 common phycotoxins(alone and in combination)in the marine zooplankton Artemia salina was investigated.The 48 h LC_(50)of the 14 phycotoxins varied from 0.0193µg/mL to 2.415µg/mL.The most potent phycotoxin was azaspiracids-3(AZA3;with a LC_(50)of 0.0193µg/mL),followed by azaspiracids-2(AZA2;0.0226µg/mL),pectenotoxin-2(PTX2;0.0460µg/mL)and dinophysistoxin-1(DTX1;0.0818µg/mL).For the binary exposure,okadaic acid(OA)induced potential additive effects with DTX1,probably due to their similar structure(polyether fatty acid)and mode of action(attacking the serine/threonine phosphoprotein phosphatases).On the other hand,OA showed potential antagonistic effects with PTX2,which might be accounted for by their activation on the detoxification activity of cytochrome P450 activity.In addition,DTX1 induced potential synergetic effects with saxitoxin(STX),yessotoxin(YTX)or PTX2,suggesting the hazard potency of the mixtures of DTX1 and other phycotoxins(like STX,YTX and PTX2)with regard to the ecological risk.These results provide valuable toxicological data for assessing the impact of phycotoxins on marine planktonic species and highlight the potential ecological risk of toxic HABs in marine ecosystems.

Karlodinium elegans sp. nov. (Gymnodiniales, Dinophyceae), a novel species isolated from the East China Sea in a dinofl agellate bloom

Abstract On May 24–29,2019,a harmful algal bloom occurred in Pingtan coastal areas,Fujian,southeast China,and caused mass mortality of cage-cultured fi sh.Two clonal cultures of an unknown naked dinofl agellate were set up from seawater samples taken during the bloom.The cultures were examined for morphological features,ultrastructure characters,photosynthetic pigments,the large subunit(LSU)of the rRNA gene,and the internal transcribed spacer(ITS)sequences,as well as acute toxicity analysis.The cell was unarmored,small-sized,and ovoid,and was characterized by elaborate striations on the epicone and hypocone.The nucleus was large,ellipsoid to oval or kidney-shaped,and centrally located in the cell.A long linear apical groove originated above the sulcus in the ventral epicone and extended to the dorsal side.An elongate,slit-like“ventral pore”was located on the left of the epicone,well away from the apical groove.The chloroplasts were yellowish brown,numerous,band like,and irregularly distributed in the cell periphery.Fucoxanthin was the main accessory pigment composition.Phylogeny topology reconstructed on partial LSU rDNA showed that the unknown dinofl agellate branched as a sister species to Karlodinium sp.(strain IFR981&IFR797,from France)and Karlodinium corrugatum(strain KDGSO08,from Australia),with genetic divergences of 0.6%and 3.3%,respectively.Based on the morphological and molecular phylogenetic analysis,we describe the novel dinofl agellate as Karlodinium elegans sp.nov.A toxicity assay revealed that the clonal culture of K.elegans(strain PTB601)had no adverse eff ect on brine shrimp(Artemia salina)and marine medaka(Oryzias melastigma),indicating it may not be a toxic species.