Vulcanodinium rugosum

Vulcanodinium rugosum is a species of dinoflagellate first described in 2011 based on samples collected from the French coast of the Mediterranean Sea.^[1][2] It is thecate and its specific epithet is a reference to the striated appearance of its surface. It is the type species of the genus Vulcanodinium. Molecular phylogenetics suggests that it belongs in the order Peridiniales.^[2] Studies of the species in culture suggest it has at least two stages in its life cycle, one motile, thecate, and likely planktonic, and one nonmotile, athecate, and likely epibenthic.^[3] The species is photosynthetic and seems to prefer warm saline environments.^[3][4] It is found at least in warm Pacific and Mediterranean waters, and is likely globally distributed.^[4][5]

Vulcanodinium rugosum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
(unranked):	SAR
Phylum:	Dinoflagellata
Class:	Dinophyceae
Order:	Peridiniales
Family:	Peridiniales incertae sedis
Genus:	Vulcanodinium
Species:	V. rugosum
Binomial name
Vulcanodinium rugosum Nézan & Chomérat 2011[1][2]

V. rugosum is notable as the source organism for a family of marine cyclic imine neurotoxins such as pinnatoxins, first identified in association with molluscs of the genus Pinna,^[5] or Portimin A, the causal toxin behind a severe inflammatory skin disease in fishermen on the Senegalese Atlantic coast in 2020 and 2021.^[6][7] Production of toxin and the distribution of toxin types appear to depend on both environmental conditions and strain.^[4][5]