Detection of Fish Killing Dinoflagellates Cochlodinium polykrikoides and Karlodinium veneficum (Dinophyceae) in the East China Sea by Real-time PCR

The rDNAs of fish-killing dinoflagellates Cochlodinium polykrikoides and Karlodinium veneficum were detected from the East China Sea by species-specific real-time PCR probes. Sequence analyses using the partial ITS sequences from the real-time PCR products showed identical sequences with C. polykrikoides and K. veneficum, respectively and low expectation values (E-value) of less than 1e-5 suggesting the presence of these organisms in the East China Sea shelf water that flows into the Tsushima Strait and the Yellow Sea.