Dinoflagellates

Dinoflagellates

Most dinoflagellates (Dinoflagellata) are single cells that swim about using flagella, and like plants many of them make their own food by photosynthesis. These cells contain the brownish pigment fucoxanthin as well as chlorophyll. Dinoflagellates are abundant in the plankton of oceans and some, like Noctiluca, produce an eerie, glowing luminescence on the surface of the sea. When conditions are right, some dinoflagellates have a population explosion, and genera like Gymnodinium, which is reddish in colour, can produce "red tides". Another name for this Phylum is Pyrrhophyta, which means "fire plants". [CH] {EB}