Feeding by common heterotrophic dinoflagellates and a ciliate on the red-tide ciliate Mesodinium rubrum

Mesodinium rubrum is a cosmopolitan ciliate that often causes red tides. Predation by heterotrophic protists is a critical factor that affects the population dynamics of red tide species. However, there have been few studies on protistan predators feeding on M. rubrum. To investigate heterotrophic protists grazing on M. rubrum, we tested whether the heterotrophic dinoflagellates Gyrodiniellum shiwhaense, Gyrodinium dominans, Gyrodinium spirale, Luciella masanensis, Oblea rotunda, Oxyrrhis marina, Pfiesteria piscicida, Polykrikos kofoidii, Protoperidinium bipes, and Stoeckeria algicida, and the ciliate Strombidium sp. preyed on M. rubrum. G. dominans, L. masanensis, O. rotunda, P. kofoidii, and Strombidium sp. preyed on M. rubrum. However, only G. dominans had a positive growth feeding on M. rubrum. The growth and ingestion rates of G. dominans on M. rubrum increased rapidly with increasing mean prey concentration < $321ngCmL^{-1}$, but became saturated or slowly at higher concentrations. The maximum growth rate of G. dominans on M. rubrum was $0.48d^{-1}$, while the maximum ingestion rate was 0.55 ng C $predator^{-1}d^{-1}$. The grazing coefficients by G. dominans on populations of M. rubrum were up to $0.236h^{-1}$. Thus, G. dominans may sometimes have a considerable grazing impact on populations of M. rubrum.