Cells connected in chain-form of 2 cells, 8 cells or more. Girdle is very distinct and is characterised by surrounding the body of organism two times. Epitheca is only one-half of the hypotheca in size. Cell elongated with two lobes in the posterior end.
Size of Specimen :
20-30 mm (diameter)
Distribution :
Commonly be found in Japan. Also, can be seen in water samples of the South China Sea during late spring. Caused red tide in Japan during the early nineties, resulted with significant fishkill. The organism was one of the causative species of the red tide in 1998, which resulted in huge amount of fish be killed and significant economic loss to fish farmers in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Estuary.
Major Limiting Factors :
Growth favoured by warm temperature (22-27 °C) and high salinity (28-32 %o).
Toxicity :
Some reports associated the species with NSP. However, basically non-toxic in the South China Sea.
