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Taxonomical diversity of Pseudo‐nitzschia from the Central Adriatic Sea

The aim of our research was to study the composition of Pseudo‐nitzschia species during a period when neurotoxin domoic acid (DA) was present in shellfish. Sampling was conducted in Kaštela Bay (Central Adriatic Sea), between November 2015 and January 2016. Concentrations of DA analyzed in various shellfish species were low, below the regulatory limit, while the highest abundance of Pseudo‐nitzschia spp. reached 1.85 × 105 cells L−1 in the surface layer, at the beginning of November. Within the temperature and salinity range recorded during the investigated period, a positive correlation of Pseudo‐nitzschia spp. abundance was recorded with temperature. Morphological analyses by scanning electron microscopy revealed the presence of five Pseudo‐nitzschia species that had already been reported in the Adriatic Sea – P. calliantha, P. delicatissima, P. fraudulenta, P. pseudodelicatissima /P. cuspidata and P. subfraudulenta – as well as an unknown Pseudo‐nitzschia sp. The composition of the Pseudo‐nitzschia assemblage changed over the investigated period. The species P. pseudodelicatissima/P.cuspidata was found throughout the entire period and the highest diversity was noticed in January, when all six observed species were recorded. These results represent the first taxonomical investigation of the genus Pseudo‐nitzschia in Kaštela Bay, as well as the first report of DA in shellfish from this area.