Carnivorous protist
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Predatory dinoflagellates are
predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
y
heterotroph A heterotroph (; ) is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, but ...
ic or mixotrophic
alveolate The alveolates (meaning "pitted like a honeycomb") are a group of protists, considered a major clade and Biological classification, superphylum within Eukarya. They are currently grouped with the stramenopiles and Rhizaria among the protists with ...
s that derive some or most of their
nutrient A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...
s from digesting other organisms. About one half of dinoflagellates lack photosynthetic pigments and specialize in consuming other eukaryotic cells, and even photosynthetic forms are often predatory. Organisms that derive their nutrition in this manner include ''
Oxyrrhis marina ''Oxyrrhis marina'' is a species of dinoflagellates with flagella. A marine heterotroph, it is found in much of the world. Description This protozoan species has an asymmetrical oval shape to its single-celled body.Lowe, C. D., et al. (2011)W ...
'', which feeds phagocytically on
phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Ph ...
, ''
Polykrikos kofoidii ''Polykrikos kofoidii'' is a species of phagotrophic marine pseudocolonial dinoflagellates that can capture and engulf other protist prey, including the toxic dinoflagellate, ''Alexandrium tamarense''. ''P. kofoidii'' is of scientific interest due ...
'', which feeds on several species of red-tide and/or toxic dinoflagellates, ''
Ceratium furca ''Ceratium furca'' is a species of marine dinoflagellates. Description This species has a straight body which is 70-200 µm long and 30-50 µm wide, with the epitheca gradually tapering into an anterior horn. ''C. furca'' has long sp ...
'', which is primarily photosynthetic but also capable of ingesting other protists such as ciliates, ''
Cochlodinium polykrikoides ''Cochlodinium polykrikoides'' (or ''Margalefidinium polykrikoides'') is a species of red tide producing marine dinoflagellates known for causing fish kills around the world, and well known for fish kills in marine waters of Southeast Asia. ''C. ...
'', which feeds on phytoplankton, '' Gambierdiscus toxicus'', which feeds on algae and produces a toxin that causes ciguatera fish poisoning when ingested, and '' Pfiesteria'' and related species such as '' Luciella masanensis'', which feed on diverse prey including fish skin and human blood cells. Predatory dinoflagellates can kill their prey by releasing toxins or phagocytize small prey directly.Wiley Interscience
/ref> Some predatory algae have evolved extreme survival strategies. For example, ''
Oxyrrhis marina ''Oxyrrhis marina'' is a species of dinoflagellates with flagella. A marine heterotroph, it is found in much of the world. Description This protozoan species has an asymmetrical oval shape to its single-celled body.Lowe, C. D., et al. (2011)W ...
'' can turn cannibalistic on its own species when no suitable non-self prey is available, and '' Pfiesteria'' and related species have been discovered to kill and feed on fish, and since have been (mistakenly) referred to as carnivorous "algae" by the media.


''Pfiesteria'' hysteria

File:Pfiesteria shumwayae.jpg, '' Pfiesteria shumwayae'' File:Coast watch (1979) (20471959890).jpg, ''
Pfiesteria piscicida ''Pfiesteria piscicida'' is a dinoflagellate species of the genus '' Pfiesteria'' that some researchers claim is responsible for many harmful algal blooms in the 1980s and 1990s on the coast of North Carolina and Maryland. North Carolinian media ...
''
The media has applied the term carnivorous or predatory algae mainly to ''
Pfiesteria piscicida ''Pfiesteria piscicida'' is a dinoflagellate species of the genus '' Pfiesteria'' that some researchers claim is responsible for many harmful algal blooms in the 1980s and 1990s on the coast of North Carolina and Maryland. North Carolinian media ...
'', '' Pfiesteria shumwayae'' and other ''Pfiesteria''-like
dinoflagellate The dinoflagellates (Greek δῖνος ''dinos'' "whirling" and Latin ''flagellum'' "whip, scourge") are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered algae. Dinoflagellates are ...
s implicated in harmful algal blooms and
fish kill The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off, refers to a localized die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalized mortality of aquatic life.University of Florida. Gainesville, FL (2005) ''Plant Management in Fl ...
s. ''Pfiesteria'' is named after the American protistologist Lois Ann Pfiester. It is an ambush predator that utilizes a hit and run feeding strategy by releasing a toxin that paralyzes the respiratory systems of susceptible fish, such as menhaden, thus causing death by
suffocation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...
. It then consumes the tissue sloughed off its dead prey. ''Pfiesteria piscicida'' ( la, fish killer) has been blamed for killing more than one billion fish in the Neuse and Pamlico river estuaries in North Carolina and causing skin lesions in humans in the 1990s. It has been described as "skinning fish alive to feed on their flesh" or chemically sensing fish and producing lethal toxins to kill their prey and feed off the decaying remains. Its deadly nature has led to ''Pfiesteria'' being referred to as "killer algae" and has earned the organism the reputation as the "''
T. rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' liv ...
'' of the dinoflagellate world" or "the Cell from Hell." The prominent and exaggerating media coverage of ''Pfiesteria'' as carnivorous algae attacking fish and humans has been implicated in causing "''Pfiesteria'' hysteria" in the Chesapeake Bay in 1997 resulting in an apparent outbreak of human illness in the
Pocomoke The Pocomoke River stretches approximately U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 from southern Delaware through southeastern Maryland in the United States. At it ...
region in Maryland. However, a study published the following year concluded the symptoms were unlikely to be caused by mass hysteria.


In popular culture

During the media coverage in the 1990s, ''Pfiesteria'' has been referred to as "super villain" and subsequently has been used as such in several fictional works. A ''Pfiesteria'' subspecies killing humans featured in
James Powlik James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...
's 1999 environmental thriller '' Sea Change''. In
Frank Schätzing Frank Schätzing (; born 28 May 1957) is a German writer, mostly known for his best-selling science fiction novel '' The Swarm'' ( 2004). Life Schätzing was born in Cologne and studied communication studies; he later ran his own company, a ...
's 2004 science fiction novel The Swarm,
lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...
s and
crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...
s spread the killer alga ''Pfiesteria homicida'' to humans. In Yann Martel's 2001 novel ''
Life of Pi ''Life of Pi'' is a Canadian philosophical novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist is Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, India who explores issues of spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. He s ...
'', the protagonist encounters a floating island of carnivorous algae inhabited by
meerkat MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Kilom ...
s while shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean. At a book reading in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Martel explained that the carnivorous algae island had the purpose of representing the more fantastical of two competing stories in his novel and challenge the reader to a "leap of faith." In the 2005
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
TV show ''
Extraterrestrial Extraterrestrial refers to any object or being beyond ( extra-) the planet Earth ( terrestrial). It is derived from the Latin words ''extra'' ("outside", "outwards") and ''terrestris'' ("earthly", "of or relating to the Earth"). It may be abbrevia ...
'', the alien organism termed ''Hysteria'' combines characteristics of ''Pfiesteria'' with those of cellular slime molds. Like ''Pfiesteria'', ''Hysteria'' is a unicellular, microscopic predator capable of producing a paralytic toxin. Like cellular slime molds, it can release chemical stress signals that cause the cells to aggregate into a swarm which allows the newly formed superorganism to feed on much larger animals and produce a fruiting body that releases
spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...
s for reproduction. File:Gambierdiscus toxicus NOAA.png, '' Gambierdiscus toxicus'' File:Bmc evol bio hoppenrath Polykrikos kofoidii extruded nematocyst fig1l.png, ''
Polykrikos kofoidii ''Polykrikos kofoidii'' is a species of phagotrophic marine pseudocolonial dinoflagellates that can capture and engulf other protist prey, including the toxic dinoflagellate, ''Alexandrium tamarense''. ''P. kofoidii'' is of scientific interest due ...
'' File:Cochlodinium polykrikoides.png, ''
Cochlodinium polykrikoides ''Cochlodinium polykrikoides'' (or ''Margalefidinium polykrikoides'') is a species of red tide producing marine dinoflagellates known for causing fish kills around the world, and well known for fish kills in marine waters of Southeast Asia. ''C. ...
''


See also

* Carnivorous fungus *
Carnivorous plant Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryot ...
*
Protocarnivorous plant A protocarnivorous plant (sometimes also paracarnivorous, subcarnivorous, or borderline carnivore), according to some definitions, traps and kills insects or other animals but lacks the ability to either directly digest or absorb nutrients from i ...


References

{{Feeding Dinoflagellate biology Eating behaviors Fish diseases Marine biology