Felix Mikus (@fmikus.bsky.social)

Amoebophrya ceratii Dinoflagellates are one of the most abundant and diverse components of marine plankton. Many of them, if not all, are infected by the endoparasitoid Amoebophrya ceratii (Syndiniales, Marine Alveolate Group II), an early emerging dinoflagellate group. As these parasitoids frequently display narrow host ranges, they are believed to be as diversified as their hosts and are composed of cryptic species. Infections last 2–4 days and end with the host’s death and the release of a transient fast-swimming colony (the vermiform) that fragments within a few hours into hundreds of infective cells (dinospores). https://www.cell.com/trends/parasitology/abstract/S1471-4922(22)00282-3