Morphological aspects and first record of unarmored dinoflagellate pronoctiluca spinifera in the Colombian Caribbean

Abstract

The presence of the unarmored dinoflagellate Pronoctiluca spinifera (Lohman) Schiller (1933) was recorded for the first time in the Parque Nacional Natural Corales de Profundidad-PNNCPR, in the Colombian Caribbean. Three specimens with an average size of 54.84 μm long and 10.29 μm wide were found at one and 40 m depth; of the fusiform outline with two projections, one in the form of the tentacle (13.56 μm) and another pointed. The sampling sites were characterized by temperatures between 27.7 and 30.3 ºC; salinity between 35.6 and 36.4 and Chlorophyll a between 0.0801 and 0.1741 mg/ m3; typical values of oceanic environments. With this paper, the distribution of P. spinifera is extended, being found for the first time in the Colombian Caribbean Sea in the PNNCPR.