Contributions to the Diatom flora of the Black Sea from ultrastructural and molecular studies: new records of Skeletonema marinoi, Pseudo-nitzschia pungens var. aveirensis and Chaetoceros tenuissimus for the marine flora of Turkey

Abstract

The ultrastructure and partial LSU rDNA phylogenies of strains of Chaetoceros Ehrenberg, Pseudo-nitzschia Peragallo, and Skeletonema Greville emend Sarno et Zingone, collected from the Samsun Bay (Black Sea coast of Turkey), were examined. The polar centric diatom, Chaetoceros tenuissimus Meunier and the centric Skeletonema marinoi Sarno & Zingone dominated the phytoplankton during the diatom peak in March 2008, while the raphid pennate Pseudo-nitzschia pungens (Grunow ex Cleve) G.R.Hasle var. aveirensis Lundholm, Churro, Carreira & Calado and P. calliantha Lundholm, Moestrup & Calado peaked in August 2008. Except for P. calliantha, these are new records for the Black Sea and Turkish coastal waters.