Noctiluca

Noctiluca scintillans
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
(unranked):	Sar
(unranked):	Alveolata
Phylum:	Dinoflagellata
Class:	Dinophyceae
Order:	Noctilucales
Family:	Noctilucaceae
Genus:	Noctiluca
Species:	N. scintillans
Binomial name
Noctiluca scintillans
Synonyms
Noctiluca miliaris

Noctiluca miliaris

Noctiluca scintillans, commonly known as the sea sparkle, and also published as Noctiluca miliaris, is a free-living, nonparasitic, marine-dwelling species of dinoflagellate that exhibits bioluminescence when disturbed (popularly known as mareel). Its bioluminescence is produced throughout the cytoplasm of this single-celled protist, by a luciferin-luciferase reaction in thousands of spherically shaped organelles, called scintillons. Nonluminescent populations within the genus Noctiluca lack these scintillons.

N. scintillans is a heterotroph (nonphotosynthetic) that engulfs, by phagocytosis, food which includes plankton, diatoms, other dinoflagellates, fish eggs, and bacteria. Diatoms are often found in the vacuoles (internal membrane-bound storage compartments) within these single-celled creatures. These green nonfeeding symbioses can grow photoautotrophically for generations. Diatoms of Thalassiosira have been noted as a favored food source of these organisms.

N. scintillans can be found widely distributed throughout the world, often along the coast, in estuaries, and shallow areas of the continental shelf that receive plenty of light, which promotes the growth of the phytoplankton that make up a large portion of the N. scintillans diet.

The single-cellular types of dinoflagellates lack armor.

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Wikipedia