New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Geographic distribution of Pfiesteria spp. (Pfiesteriaceae) in Tasman Bay and Canterbury, New Zealand (2002–03)

Lesley L. Rhodes
Janet E. Adamson

Cawthron Institute
Private Bag 2
Nelson, New Zealand
email: lesley.rhodes@cawthron.org.nz

Parke A. Rublee
Eric Schaefer

University of North Carolina at Greensboro
P.O. Box 26170
Greensboro
NC 27412–6170, United States

Abstract The fish-killing heterotrophic dinoflagellate species Pfiesteria piscicida and P. shumwayae (also Pseudopfiesteria shumwayae) were present throughout New Zealand and were residents of Tasman Bay’s well-flushed estuaries and Canterbury’s brackish lakes, as determined by polymerase chain reaction-based detection assays. The two species occurred in a wide range of salinities and temperatures, although detection was restricted seasonally from spring through to autumn, except for one incidence in the shallow waters of Wairewa/Lake Forsyth, Canterbury, in the winter of 2003. The DNA sequencing data indicated that P. shumwayae may encompass a suite of genetically closely related species. The presence of Pfiesteria in New Zealand is not considered an immediate risk to fish or human health given the current low-to-moderate nutrient concentrations in New Zealand’s estuaries and brackish lakes. However, increases in nutrient loadings could pose a risk, as has occurred in eastern United States estuaries.

Keywords Pfiesteria; dinoflagellate; estuarine; polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2006, Vol. 40: 211–220
0028–8330/06/4001–0211     © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2006
M04143; Online publication date 28 February 2006. Received 20 October 2004; accepted 27 September 2005

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