Two fouling Olifantiella (Bacillariophyceae) species from the northwest temperate Pacific coast

Abstract

Two naviculoid diatoms with an internal tubular process that opens externally through a pore or process on the valve face were observed on the hull of R/V Onnuri of the Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology in South Korea. Owing to the presence of distinctive morphological features, namely the buciniportula and an internal marginal canal, these diatoms were assigned to the genus Olifantiella, which was recently described from tropical regions. Of these two species, one (Olifantiella onnuria sp. nov.) is new to science. It can be distinguished from other Olifantiella species by two, internally closed, bean-like buciniportulae, and an external T-shaped groove near the terminal raphe endings. These morphological characteristics resemble those of the genus Labellicula, however, the presence of an internal marginal canal does not match Labellicula. The other Olifantiella species is identical to O. muscatinei, which possesses occluded fenestrulae on the valve face. The occurrences of these two Olifantiella species are the first records for the temperate Pacific region and their presence on a ship's hull indicates that Olifantiella spp. may be dispersed widely along shipping routes.

Keywords:

• buciniportula
• Olifantiella
• Korea
• Labellicula
• taxonomy
• vessel hull fouling diatom

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. C. Riaux-Gobin and the anonymous referee for critical reading of the manuscript and Prof. K. Sabbe for the meticulous comments on the manuscript. The stored fixed diatom samples were obtained from the Library of Marine Samples, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST), South Korea.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Seung Won Jung http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7473-7924

Joon Sang Park http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1945-2210

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported the Research Program of KIOST, ‘A base study to understand and counteract marine ecosystem change in Korean waters (PE99713): Development of risk assessment and management process of ship's biofouling debris discharged from in-water cleaning’, and the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) (NRF-2017M3A9E4072753).