A satellite and field portrait of a Karenia mikimotoi bloom off the south coast of Ireland, August 1998

The role of hydrographic parameters, measured from a ship of opportunity, in bloom formation of Karenia mikimotoi in the English Channel

“…Karenia mikimotoi is a motile species known to grow at the thermocline, an optimum depth between maximal nutrients and sufficient light for growth (Raine et al, 2001;Sharples et al, 2005;Ross & Sharples, 2007) and there is some evidence for diel migration in a stable water column (Brand et al, 2012). Full depth data would be required to investigate this further although we suggest that surface measurements of dissolved oxygen could be used as an early indicator of these subsurface blooms before they are visible through satellite measurements.…”

“…This species is ecologically significant in the western English Channel contributing up to 47% of the total annual primary production (Holligan et al, 1983). However, environmental concerns have been raised associating it with fish kills and water column anoxia (Tangen, 1977, Satake et al, 2005Gentien et al, 2007); for example fish kills off the southern Irish coast (Raine et al, 2001;Silke et al, 2005). Consequently, Karenia mikimotoi can be considered a Harmful…”

“…In the Irish Sea Harmful Algal Blooms are increasing in frequency (Raine et al, 2001;Gowen et al, 2008). Should species composition…”

Development of a rapid detection and quantification method of Karenia mikimotoi by real-time quantitative PCR

“…mikimotoi is globally distributed and capable of forming harmful algal blooms (HABs) in optimal environmental conditions, such as moderate temperature and pH, abundant phosphate and a low ratio of N/P (nitrogen to phosphate). K. mikimotoi HABs have been reported in different areas, including Scotland (Davidson et al, 2009), Ireland (Raine et al, 2001), the North Sea (Tillmann and Rick, 2003), Gokasho Bay (Yanagi et al, 1994), India (Godhe et al, 2001), Hong Kong (Fang and Tang, 2009), the Estuary of the Pearl River (Wang et al, 2008) and the coastal water of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces in China (Yao et al, 2006;Long and Du, 2005). K. mikimotoi can produce and release hemolytic toxins, including gymnodine (Zaccaroni and Scaravelli, 2008); therefore, it can contribute to the death of many fish when forming HABs.…”

“…Scientists have tried many methods for monitoring and identifying K. mikimotoi, including remote sensing (Raine et al, 2001), microsatellite markers (Nishitani et al, 2009), semi-nested PCR (Guillou et al, 2002) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification . However, the quantification of K. mikimotoi was not attempted in these studies.…”