Abstract
Six marine dinoflagellate species representing a range of equivalent spherical diameters between 12 and 36 μm were examined for several characteristics that influence their translation velocity. Sinking velocities estimated by three independent techniques and applied to swimming and narcotized cells generally agreed, and followed the cell-size relationships previously reported for diatoms. Dinokont sinking and swimming velocities both decreased with increasing surface area: volume ratio, but a small desmokont deviated from the dinokont relationships. Sinking velocities influenced the relative ascent/descent capabilities of a species. The swim:sink ratio decreased as equivalent spherical diameter increased to 25 μm and then remained constant at 7.6, despite further increases in cell size. This relationship suggests a minimum required swimming capability relative to cell size. The swim:sink ratio increased with increasing surface area:volume ratio for all the surveyed species. Out observations of decreasing cell rotation:translation ratio and increasing cell drag with increasing cell size supported the hypothesis that the dinoflagellate flagellar apparatus generates maximum swimming velocity at intermediate cell sizes. However, an alternate analysis supported the hypothesis that swimming velocity increases with cell size and that variations among genera are due to subtle differences in the basic dinoflagellate propulsion system. A three-dimensional helical path index provided a more realistic estimate of the actual translation velocity (along the helix axis) during diel vertical migration when applied as a correction factor to the more typically measured helix velocity (along the helix) of a given dinoflagellate.
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Communicated by J. M. Lawrence, Tampa
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Kamykowski, D., Reed, R.E. & Kirkpatrick, G.J. Comparison of sinking velocity, swimming velocity, rotation and path characteristics among six marine dinoflagellate species. Marine Biology 113, 319–328 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00347287
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00347287