<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>We present the first report and description of the pinnate diatom <italic>Haslea</italic> sp. from the northeastern Adriatic Sea, Croatia, producing a blue pigment. This organism is very similar to the well-known <italic>Haslea ostrearia</italic>, the first described “blue” diatom producing marennine, i.e. the pigment involved in the greening of oysters, and recently described <italic>H</italic>. <italic>provincialis</italic>. However, the Croatian diatom slightly differs from other <italic>Haslea</italic> species in its morphology and 18S rRNA sequence. The discovery of <italic>Haslea</italic> sp. from Croatia confirmed the possible existence of more species among the representatives of blue <italic>Haslea</italic> species, as previously assumed. The discovery of several genetically distinct populations of <italic>Haslea ostrearia</italic>, new species <italic>H</italic>. <italic>karadagensis</italic>, <italic>H</italic>. <italic>provincialis</italic> and <italic>Haslea</italic> sp. from Croatia, suggests that species richness in the group of “blue” diatoms is probably underestimated and still more new blue diatoms remain undiscovered. This also raises questions about previously published reports and observations of <italic>Haslea</italic> distribution in the Mediterranean Sea whether these organisms really belong to <italic>H</italic>. <italic>ostrearia</italic>.</p></abstract>

We present the first report and description of the pinnate diatom Haslea sp. from the northeastern Adriatic Sea, Croatia, producing a blue pigment. This organism is very similar to the well-known Haslea ostrearia, the first described “blue” diatom producing marennine, i.e. the pigment involved in the greening of oysters, and recently described H. provincialis. However, the Croatian diatom slightly differs from other Haslea species in its morphology and 18S rRNA sequence. The discovery of Haslea sp. from Croatia confirmed the possible existence of more species among the representatives of blue Haslea species, as previously assumed. The discovery of several genetically distinct populations of Haslea ostrearia, new species H. karadagensis, H. provincialis and Haslea sp. from Croatia, suggests that species richness in the group of “blue” diatoms is probably underestimated and still more new blue diatoms remain undiscovered. This also raises questions about previously published reports and observations of Haslea distribution in the Mediterranean Sea whether these organisms really belong to H. ostrearia.

A blue-pigmented hasleoid diatom, <italic>Haslea</italic> sp., from the Adriatic Sea

Oceanological and Hydrobiological Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

A blue-pigmented hasleoid diatom,  sp., from the Adriatic Sea

We present the first report and description of the pinnate diatom Haslea sp. from the northeastern Adriatic Sea, Croatia, producing a blue pigment. This...

	Haslea sp. (this study)	Haslea ostrearia	Hasle pseudostrearia	Haslea crucigera	Haslea spicula BA28
H. ostrearia	97.16
H. pseudostrearia	94.34	98.06
H. crucigera	94.33	97.99	97.75
H. spicula BA28	94.09	98.35	98.06	98.87
H. sp. RG-2015a	99.70	96.96	93.64	93.62	93.31

	Haslea sp.	Haslea ostrearia	Haslea provincialis	Haslea karadagensis	Haslea crucigera	Haslea pseudostrearia
Length (μm)	60.1	71.8	65.8	52.5	55.5	95–97
Width (μm)	7.6	7.3	7.4	8.0	8.8	11–121
Color of cell apices	blue	blue	blue	blue-grey	no	no

A blue-pigmented hasleoid diatom, Haslea sp., from the Adriatic Sea

Article Category: Original research paper

Publicado en línea: 13 mar 2018

Páginas: 60 - 66

Recibido: 19 jul 2017

Aceptado: 25 sept 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ohs-2018-0007

© 2018 Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdańsk, Poland

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

18S rRNA gene fragments sequence similarities (%) among Haslea strains

Morphological features of Haslea sp. (this study) compared with those of H. ostrearia, H. provincialis, H. karadagensis, H. crucigera and H. pseudostrearia obtained from the literature