A chain of Alexandrium monilatum below a Tripos furca. Both are mixoplankton that were collected during a late summer bloom of Alexandrium monilatum in the York River in Gloucester, VA. Comprising ...

The oceans are full of animals that seek safety in numbers, gathering together to confuse predators. But some opt for the opposite strategy. Alexandrium is part of the sea’s collection of plankton.

Some species of Alexandrium contain the highly potent saxitoxin, an extremely toxic neurotoxin. In the 1950s, saxitoxin was experimented with by the CIA for use in chemical warfare and it is ...

When exposed to small plankton-eating crustaceans called copepods, chains of Alexandrium adopt stealth behaviour, splitting into single cells or very short chains and swimming more slowly. The ...

A chain of Alexandrium monilatum below a Tripos furca. Both are mixoplankton that were collected during a late summer bloom of Alexandrium monilatum in the York River in Gloucester, VA.  ...

Red tide from June 2009. NOAA public domain The plankton species responsible for some types of the toxic "red tide" that washes up in coastal areas could be more dangerous than we thought.

Note, however, that these plankton are not trying to get themselves drunk. Also, they do eat other types of food. They just have an insatiable appetite for this toxic algae found in the waters of ...

Transitions between life cycle stages by the harmful dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense are critical for the initiation and termination of its blooms. To quantify these transitions in a single ...