The first record of the epiphytic dinoflagellate <i>Coolia malayensis</i> from Russian Pacific waters

Abstract The potentially toxic dinoflagellate genera Gambierdiscus , Ostreopsis , Coolia , previously considered inhabitants of the tropical and subtropical zones, have expanded their ranges to temperate latitudes in recent decades, presumably due to ongoing global warming. Coolia species are widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific. Until recently, the northernmost known point of the Coolia distribution range in the Pacific region has been the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula. In this paper, we report, for the first time, the presence of the genus Coolia in Pacific waters of Russia. This is also the first finding of Coolia in waters with below-zero winter temperatures. The morphology of the Russian strain of Coolia malayensis isolated from Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan, matches the original description of the Malaysian strain and is similar to the morphology of other strains from the Pacific region A phylogenetic analysis has clustered the Russian strain with the clade of C. malayensis , showing a 100 % similarity with the strains isolated from South Korea, New Zealand, and Malaysia and with the strains from the Canary Islands. Further observations are needed to clarify if C. malayensis is acclimated, or not, in this part of the Sea of Japan.