PIGMENTATION AND MORPHOLOGY OF A MARINE GYRODINIUM (DINOPHYCEAE) WITH A MAJOR CAROTENOID DIFFERENT FROM PERIDININ AND FUCOXANTHIN1

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Abstract
Chlorophylls and carotenoids of a small unarmoured dinoftagellate (Gyrodinium sp.‐A) isolated from the Oslofjord, Norway, were investigated by thin‐layer chromatography, visible light spectrophotometry, proton magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry and simple chemical reactions. Besides chlorophyll a, chlorophyll c, β,β‐carotene, diatoxanthin and diadinoxanthin, the species possessed three xanthophylls that could not be correlated with carotenoids previously reported from dinoflagellates. The main carotenoid was different from peridinin and fucoxanthin, both of which are reported as the main characteristic carotenoids in photoautotrophic dinoflagellates. No trace of peridinin could be detected in the pigment extract. A morphological description of the organism based on light microscopy is presented, and the relationship with other small gymnodinioid (Gymnodinium spp.) species is discussed. The preliminary results indicate that this Gyrodinium may be a previously undescribed species.