HAWAI'I: Scientists discover new and unusual species of diatoms in waters off Hawaii
Scientists have discovered two new and unusual species of diatoms in the waters off Hawaii, they report in Nature Communications. The NSF-funded researchers at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, University of California Santa Cruz, and California State University San Marcos found that the organisms fix nitrogen, a critical process that supports productivity in the nutrient-poor open ocean they inhabit.
The new diatom species are smaller and belong to a different lineage with an elongated, or "pennate" shape with bilateral symmetry. Their symbionts are also smaller and unicellular, and they do not glow under fluorescent light because they do not contain chlorophyll, making them nearly invisible inside the diatom.
"Oceanographers have known about these diatom-cyanobacteria symbioses in waters around Hawaii for many years," said Christopher Schvarcz, lead author of the study, "but the species we discovered are something quite different."