Epiphytic abundance and toxicity of Prorocentrum lima populations in the Fleet Lagoon, UK

Planktonic Dinophysis spp. and epiphytic Prorocentrum lima (Ehrenberg) Dodge are known dinoflagellate producers of okadaic acid (OA) and dinophysistoxins (DTX), causative phycotoxins of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP). Underestimation of toxic dinoflagellates associated with a toxic event may be due to the lack of sampling of species with epiphytic and epibenthic strategies, such as P. lima. As Dinophysis spp. is not found in the Fleet Lagoon, Dorset, but previous DSP events have closed the Crassostrea gigas oyster farm, P. lima is the most likely causative organism. A field assay for separating microalgal epiphytes and concentrating wild cells on to filters was successfully applied to sub-samples of a variety of macroalgae and macrophytes (seagrass) collected from the Fleet during summer 2002. P. lima was present in increasing cell densities on most substratum species, over the sampling period, from 102 to 103 cells g−1 fresh weight (FW) plant biomass. LC–MS analysis detected OA and DTX-1 in extracts of wild P. lima cells, in ratios characteristic of P. lima strains previously isolated from the Fleet. No toxins, however, were detected in oyster flesh.