Potential management of red tide blooms. Treatment with concentrated, frozen gomphosphaeria aponina cultures

Abstract

The potential management of red tide blooms through inoculation with concentrated, frozen cultures of the blue‐green alga Gomphosphaeria aponina is considered. G. aponina has been shown to elaborate a natural product termed “aponin,” cytolytic toward laboratory cultures of the red tide organism Ptychodiscus brevis, Davis (Steidinger)¹. Large cultures of G. aponina (18–20 liter) can be concentrated by centrifugation (10¹⁰ cells/ml) and stored frozen at ‐30°C. Studies show that viable, aponin‐producing cultures can be regenerated after being frozen up to 6 weeks.

These observations suggest the potential use of stored G. aponina cells in management of P. brevis blooms.

Key words:

• Red Tide
• Gomphosphaeria aponina
• Ptychodiscus brevis
• Gymnodinium breve
• aponin
• freezing
• management