Detection of Ostreopsis ovata from Eastern Sicily coast using SEM microscopy coupled to the Vibrio fischeri test.

Algal blooms may occur in freshwater as well as marine environments. Typically only a small numberof phytoplankton species are involved. There is an increase of monitoring plans in the world resulting from theincreased impact from these harmful algal blooms. The harmful algal blooms had already been identified in theMediterranean since 1990 but their presence has intensified in recent years. In particular the harmful algal bloomsof genus Ostreopsis are detected in Mediterranean Sea. Aim of our study was to evaluate the presence of O. ovataduring 2008, 2009 and 2010 years in samples of seawater and macroalgae from Ionian coast by pattern recognitionusing scanning electron microscopy with microanalysis coupled with the Vibrio fischeri ecotoxicological test, toverify presence of toxicity. All samples of macroalgae observed by scanning electron microscopy with microanalysisshowed an abundance of diatoms in the number and species. Only in three sampling sites the toxicity tests werepositive (respectively 45%, 29% and 28%). Our data showed that the harmful algal blooms are not a very frequentproblem for the Ionian coast, but they are occasional blooms and they not showed an immediate risk for economyrelated to the fish, shellfish and mussels.To protect the exposed people’s health is necessary to continue the monitoring and complete the preventiveaction through an adequate public information.