Fig. 3. Light microscopy images of fixed cells of Ansanella granifera. 4). Ansanella granifera is a dinoflagellate belonging to the family Suessiaceae (order Suessiales) that was recently described from Korea [5]. To our knowledge, the occurrence in waters from southeastern Cuba represents the first record outside its type-locality, including the first report of the taxon for the Caribbean region, for the entire Western Atlantic, as well as the first record as bloom forming species worldwide. The application of molecular methods is particularly valuable for small dinoflagellates (e.g. gymnodinioid forms) of ambiguous taxonomy like Ansanella granifera (very similar to Gymnodinium species). They are nanoplankton sized forms that cannot be properly identified in optical microscopy examinations. Recently, a Gymnodinium species (G. natalense) has been transferred to the genus Ansanella (A. natalensis) by combining morphological and genetic studies [6]. When the event occurred, weather conditions were favorable for bloom formation in southeastern Cuba, with high water temperature (30.66 oC) and salinity (37.44 psu); and ammonium concentration (NH4 +) was also moderately high (0.20 mg/L). This level of ammonium could be due to organic nutrient input linked to discharges in the coastal zone from the wastewater treatment plant of the nearby local fishery industry. In spite of its location in the open sea, symptoms of eutrophication such as high values of chemical oxygen demand (COD) (average of 5.31 mg/L) and concentrations of oxygen below 5 mg/L (average of 4.76 mg/L) were recorded along the coastline of the study area (Fishing Port and adjacent waters), an area that is characterized by organic rich sediments. Further work HARMFUL ALGAE NEWS NO. 67 / 2021 is needed to determine the composition and distribution of dinoflagellate cysts from sediments of this coastal area to determine the historical occurrence of bloom-forming species. Many dinoflagellates are better adapted to use ammonium and other organic nitrogen forms like urea, in comparison with diatoms which are nitrate specialists [7, 8]. Ansanella granifera, similar to other red tide dinoflagellates, is also a mixotrophic species that is capable of photosynthesis and acquiring nutrients in pre-packaged or particulate form (including heterotrophic bacteria and other small photosynthetic microalgae) together [9]. Mixotrophy is a competitive advantage for many dinoflagellate species that allows them to dominate in the ocean. Mixotrophic species are responsible for ~ 40% of the species forming red tides globally [10, 11]. Ansanella granifera is one of the fastest growing mixotrophic dinoflagellates reported to date. Mixotrophic dinoflagellates can increase their populations by migrating between well-lit surface and eutrophic bottom waters [6, 12]. Eutrophication processes associated with nitrogen loading in the coastal zone have resulted in algal blooms, fish kills, altered trophic interactions, and oxygen depletion, and have caused other environmental problems in different coastal regions around the world [1, 13]. Dinoflagellate blooms including toxic species have also been reported near areas of sewage in semi-enclosed bays from Cuba [14, 15]. Acknowledgements This work was supported by CiguaPire (NSF OISE Award # 1743802), which facilitated collaboration among researchers from USA and Cuba, leading to studies and training on HABs. Additional support was provided by the Greater Caribbean Center for Ciguatera Research (NIH 1P01ES028949- 01 and NSF 1841811). We thank Evie Fachon for her valuable technical and laboratory assistance. References 1. GEOHAB 2006. Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms, Harmful Algal Blooms in Eutrophic Systems. P. Glibert (ed.). IOC and SCOR, Paris and Baltimore, 74 pp 2. Richlen ML & Barber PH 2005. Mol. Ecol. Notes 5: 688-691 3. Gómez F et al 2017. Harmful Algae 63:32-44 4. Scholin CA et al 1994. J Phycol 30:999 1011 5. Jeong HJ et al 2014. Algae 29: 75-99 6. Dawut et al 2018. Phycol Res 66: 300309 7. Burkholder JM et al 2008. Harmful Algae 8:7793 8. Glibert PM et al 2016. Limnol Oceanogr 61:165197 9. Lee SK et al 2014. Algae: 29: 137-152 10. Flynn KJ et al 2013. J Plnkton Res 41: 375-391 11. Jeong HJ et al 2021. Sci Adv: eabe4214 12. Park JG et al 2001. Phycologia 40: 292297 13. Glibert PM & Burford MA 2017. Oceano graphy 30:5869 14. Moreira-González AR et al 2014. RGCI 14:597-609 15. Moreira-González AR et al 2020. Sci Total Environ 757:143782 Authors Angel R Moreira-González & Carlos M AlonsoHernández, Centro de Estudios Ambientales de Cienfuegos (CEAC), Ciudad Nuclear, CP 59350, Cienfuegos, Cuba Gustavo Arencibia-Carballo & Abel Betanzos-Vega, Centro de Investigaciones Pesqueras (CIP), Municipio Playa, CP 19100, La Habana, Cuba Steve L Morton NOAA, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, HAB Monitoring & Reference Branch, Charleston, SC, USA. Mindy L Richlen, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Biology Department, Woods Hole, MA, USA Fig. 4. Scanning electron micrographs of Ansanella granifera cells from field samples. Scale bar = 5 μm. E-mail corresponding author: angel@gestion.ceac.cu 11 Harmful Algae News An IOC Newsletter on Toxic Algae and Algal Blooms No. 67 - April 2021 www.ioc-unesco.org/hab SHIOHIGARI and PSP toxins in Japan: Initiatives to save traditional recreatio nal clam picking Shiohigari has been enjoyed by people in Japan for centuries, as depicted in the Japanese a Fig. 2 Clamming parks in Osaka Prefecture (Modified from a digital map of The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan) ingly, they had developed the exchange system to secure viability of their operations before 2002 when PST exceeding the regulatory limit were first detected in clams from seas a Fig. 4 System of exchanging clams which secure food safety at Tannowa clamming park (Modified from [3} of visitors to clamming parks has now recovered. This is a success story of how to mitigate socio-economic impact on recreational clamming in Osaka prefecture due to PST. Thanks to the initiatives HABs and the Mixoplankton Paradigm Mixotrophs are defined as organisms that are able to use photo-autotrophy and phagotrophy or osmotrophy to obtain organic nutrients [1]. It is notable that all phototrophic protists are potentially mixotrophic if only through expression of osmotrophy enabled by the Fig. 2. Indication of proportion of IOC-UNESCO HAB species [6] assigned to each of the HAB plankton functional groups according to key in Fig.1 compiled by cross-reference to a database on mixoplankton species. CM, constitutive mixoplankton; pSNCM, plastidic specialist non-constitutive mixoplankton; Fig. 3. Schematics and model simulation outputs run under the traditional paradigm (left) versus the mixoplankton paradigm (right). See text for explanation. B bacteria; Phyto phytoplankton (non-phagotrophic phototroph); μZ protozooplankton; CM constitutive mixoplankton (photophago-trophic); DIM Tiny cells with a big impact: An unexpected bloom in the mid-Atlantic Fig. 1. a) Bongo nets fouled with the brown mucilaginous plankton. b) Dark and gelatinous content of the plankton nets scraped into a sample tray. Since 1992, the US NOAA Ecosystem Monitoring (EcoMon) cruises survey the Northeas Fig. 3. Scanning electron micrographs of frustules in valve view of Thalassiosira mala. Note the single eccentric strutted process (black arrow), the ring of marginal strutted processes (arrowheads) and the single labiate process (white arrow) located within the ring of marginal strutted processes s Acknowledgements We are grateful to Kyle Turner for helpful discussions regarding the fall 2018 EcoMon cruise and to Dr. Irene Andreu for SEM assistance. Dr. Paul E. Hargraves provided some insights on diatom taxonomy. We acknowledge the dedication of the crew of the R/V Sharp during a particularly First report of an Ansanella granifera bloom in Cuban waters, Caribbean region Fig. 1. Map of the study area showing the location where the dinoflagellate bloom o ccurred in southeastern Cuba. Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) have been associated with fish and shellfish kills, ecosystem damage, human Fig. 3. Light microscopy images of fixed cells of Ansanella granifera. 4). Ansanella granifera is a dinoflagellate belonging to the family Suessiaceae (order Suessiales) that was recently described from Korea [5]. To our knowledge, the occurrence in waters from southeastern Cuba represents the firs Dolichospermum spiroides blooms in a man-made lake in Sarawak, Borneo pond in Serian, Sarawak, and co-existed with a Microcystis bloom. However, the species and cell density for both genera were not recorded [3]. This is the first documented report of D. spiroides in Sarawak waters. The occurrence An online platform (GEE App) for Trophic State Index monitoring of inland waters in Latin America Fig. 1. a) The dark gray region shows the Paraná River Basin in Brazil; b) Water masses within Paraná River Basin palette according to the Chl-a concentration average for 2020. The red rectangle indica Remote sensing of recurrent cyano HABs in Patos Lagoon, Brazil Fig. 1. Map of Patos Lagoon (southernmost part of Brazil) taken from [7]. Black circles indicate the four sites chosen forNDCI values retrieval [4]. Every austral summer, dense surface growth and accumulations of cyanobacteria threaten ation promoting the prevalence and duration of cyanoHABs. More detailed information will be published soon adding modeling tools to locate dominant cyanoHAB accumulation sites within the PL, and their potential exportation to the ocean. Future studies are needed to discriminate between local effects Blooms of Akashiwo sanguinea (Dinophyceae) in a tropical estuary in northeastern Brazil We report an inter-annual bloom of the unarmored dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea in a pristine estuary (Figure 1F) in Brazil. The estuarine section of the Serinhaém River, Camamu Bay is a species-rich ecosystem can affect the entire structure of a community due to changes in composition due to outcomes of biotic interactions with one species being benefited while another one is harmed. The spatial location of SE10 within an area of potential disturbance driven by urban tributaries alters ecological stoichi Can artisan fishermen help to prevent HABs intoxication? A science communi cation project in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Fig. 1. Geographic distribution of the main harmful microalgae genera in Brazilian coastal waters. These genera may induce different poisoning syndromes: amnesic shellfish poisoning ( Authors Raquel AF Neves, Júlia Torres, Nathália Rodrigues & Clarissa Naveira, Graduate Program in Neotropical Biodiversity (PPGBIO), Research Group in Experimental and Applied Aquatic Ecology, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), Avenida Pasteur 458-307 Rio de Janeiro- RJ, CEP The VIII Workshop the Group HarmAlfonso Vidal (Colombia). Their of dediconsider it urgent to finalize The VIIIofWorkshop of the Group Harmful Algal Blooms the Caribbean (ANCA) of a regional ful AlgalIOCARIBE Blooms of (Intergovernmental the Caribbean catedOceanographic work contributedCommission sig Aotearoa/New Zealand Japan collaboration strengthened through HAB research at Cawthron Institute the 16th Young Researchers Award from the Japanese Society of Phycology for his research on harmful algae in Japan. Acknowledgements The collaboration between New Zealand and Japan has been continued ANNOUNCEMENT: The International Phytoplankton Intercalibration The International Phytoplankton Intercalibration (IPI) Proficiency Testing scheme in abundance and composition of marine microalgae programme 2021 is now open for registration for 2021 through www.iphyi.org. The schedule for 2021 and all The 19th International Conference on Harmful Algae 2021 (ICHA2021) is going virtual! We appreciate the responses that many of you provided in the recent survey which indicated that 85% of respondents will participate in a virtual meeting. The abstract submission deadline is 9 April 2021. Details on In memoriam Maria Esther Angélica Meave del Castillo (1960-2020) María Esther Meave (who also received the nickname Teté or Tey by many of her friends) was born in Mexico city, Mexico (September 5th, 1960) and passed away on December 6th, 2020, after contracting COVID-19. She earned her Master and Leif Bolding, graphic designer and webmaster at the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, has been an unsung hero of Harmful Algae News. Working behind the scenes since 2000 as responsible for the layout of each issue. Leif retires at the end of April 2021. He will have plenty of