A different Concorde is common in New Zealand

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Another toxic algae is added to the list of harmful marine algae in the waters around New Zealand.

Concorde may not be flying around the world any longer, but there are plenty of them swimming in the waters around New Zealand. Karenia concordia, so-named because of its ‘droop-nosed’ appearance, like the famous supersonic aircraft, was one of the toxic algae implicated in the extensive 2002 fish kills in the Hauraki Gulf.

The species is new to science, and its formal description as K. concordia, will be published in the international journal Phycologia by NIWA scientist Hoe Chang and Ken Ryan from Victoria University of Wellington. The little ‘concorde’ is described and illustrated in the latest issue of Aquatic Biodiversity & Biosecurity, the quarterly newsletter from the National Centre for Biodiversity & Biosecurity, which was published today.

‘We tested the new species at NIWA’s Wellington laboratory. It is cytotoxic, and it can kill some marine life’, said Dr Chang, ‘and we are now studying other toxins it produces.’

This research adds another important species to the growing list of harmful marine microalgae found in New Zealand. The number of species that have been associated with human health risks and environmental impacts in New Zealand continues to grow as more species are discovered.

‘We don’t know whether these are part of New Zealand’s natural flora, so we can’t discount the possibility that some might have arrived in ship ballast water from other parts of the world.’

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