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By Alex Yoo. Dinoflagellates. Key Features. Use a pair of flagella in order to move. They spin as they swim. The flagella are on grooves. Most are photosynthetic and unicellular but some live in colonies. They have a cellulose cell wall that looks like armor.
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By Alex Yoo Dinoflagellates
Key Features • Use a pair of flagella in order to move. They spin as they swim. The flagella are on grooves. • Most are photosynthetic and unicellular but some live in colonies. They have a cellulose cell wall that looks like armor. • During cell division, the nuclear envelope stays intact and the microtubules pass through the nucleus to keep it the nucleus oriented the right way. Then it does binary fission-like division
Life Cycle • Motile haploid stages • Population growth usually through asexual reproduction • In the diagram, brown = motile, whitish color = sessile
Some Interesting Facts • Pfiesteria, a species of dinoflagellates, causes red tides, algal blooms that cause fish to die and harm humans • Some species make their own light through bioluminescence • The first dinoflagellate discovered was called Pyrrhophyta or “fire algae” because of its bioluminescence
More Interesting Facts • Zooxanthellae help build coral reefs by providing nutrients to its symbiont coral • Besides diatoms, dinoflagellates are the largest group of eukaryotic algae
Significance to Humans • Red tides harm not only fish, but also humans • Half of all the dinoflagellates are photosynthetic and provide oxygen
Examples of Dinoflagellates • Ordered from left to right: • Pfiesteria • Ceratium tripos • Zooxanthellae • Togula britannica