Several dinoflagellate species of the cosmopolitan genus Dinophysis produce potent lipophilic shellfish toxins (okadaic acid, its derivatives and the pectenotoxins) and pose a major threat to shellfish aquaculture in Europe, Chile, Japan, and New Zealand.

Plankton surveys, between 2001 and 2005 along the Russian Caucasian Black Sea Coast, revealed Dinophysis rotundata, D. caudata and Prorocentrum lima as the most ubiquitous of the known dinoflagellates associated with diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP).

The purpose of the study was to investigate the genetic diversity of Dinophysis species from around the Scottish coast, with a view to an improved understanding of the dynamics and identification of this genus in Scottish waters. Single-cell PCR amplification