The blue mussel Mytilus edulis is vulnerable to the toxic dinoflagellate Karlodinium armiger—Adult filtration is inhibited and several life stages killed

Blooms of the toxic dinoflagellates Karlodinium armiger and K. veneficum are frequently observed in Alfacs Bay, Spain, causing mass mortality to wild and farmed mussels. An isolate of K. armiger from Alfacs Bay was grown in the laboratory and exposed to adults, embryos and trochophore larvae of the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis. Adult mussels rejected to filter K. armiger at cell concentrations >1.5·10(3) cells ml(-1). Exposure of adult mussels (23–33 mm shell length) to a range of K. armiger cell concentrations led to mussel mortality with LC(50) values of 9.4·10(3) and 6.1·10(3) cells ml(-1) after 24 and 48 h exposure to ~3.6·10(4) K. armiger cells ml(-1), respectively. Karlodinium armiger also affected mussel embryos and trochophore larvae and feeding by K. armiger on both embryos and larvae was observed under the microscope. Embryos exposed to low K. armiger cell concentrations suffered no measurable mortality. However, at higher K. armiger cell concentrations the mortality of the embryos increased significantly with cell concentration and reached 97% at 1.8·10(3) K. armiger cells ml(-1) after 29 h of exposure. Natural K. armiger blooms may not only have serious direct effects on benthic communities, but may also affect the recruitment of mussels in affected areas.