A strain of Amphidinium species was established from samples collected from the intertidal zone of a sandy beach of Jeju Island, Korea. Its cells were 13.0-15.0 μm in length and 10.0-13.0 μm in width. Its cell shape was round or oval and dorsoventrally flat. A pyrenoid was located in the center of the cell and a nucleus was posteriorly located. Its epicone was small and left-deflecting. Its cingulum had V-shape on the ventral side, forming a ventral ridge and extending to the sulcus. Polygonal amphiesmal vesicles and ring-shaped body scales not described previous were observed on the surface of the cell. Its morphological features were consistent with those of previously described Amphidinium fijiense. Phylogeny based on ITS region and LSU rDNA sequences revealed that this Amphidinium isolate was clearly clustered with other A. fijiense strains, but separated from other Amphidinium species. These results indicate that this Amphidinium isolate is A. fijiense. This study reports its presence for the first time in the intertidal zone of a sandy beach of Jeju Island, Korea.

A study describing unrecorded and taxonomically undescribed indigenous species is in progress since 2006. Samples were collected from many sites in coastal waters and offshore of Korea as well as from Jeju Island. Since 2008, we have found ten unrecorded species of four genera belonging to family Dinophysaceae, Gonyaulacaceae, Gymnodiniaceae, and Heterocapsaceae. The species are as follows, Dinophysis elongata (2016 winter), D. nasuta (2016 winter), Gonyaulax alaskensis (2016 winter), G. diegensis (2017), G. monospina (2008), Amphidinium flagellans (2017), Heterocapsa circularisquama (2017), H. horiguchii (2017), H. lanceolata (2017), and H. pygmaea (2017) (note; The numbers in the parenthesis refer to the year in which the species was reported as unrecorded indigenous species by National Institute of Biological Resources, NIBR hereafter). Among them, seven species were described as newly recorded species in Korean waters, and three have been re-described in this study.

An investigation focusing on the unrecorded and taxonomically undescribed indigenous has been done since 2006. Samples were collected from various sites in the coastal and offshore waters of Korea as well as around Jeju Island. Since 2008, 16 unrecorded species belonging to the family Gymnodiniaceae have been found. The species were as follows: Amphidinium thermaeum (2015), Cochlodinium convolutum (2015), C. strangulatum (2015), Gymnodinium abbreviatum (valid name: G. gracile), G. arenicola (2015), G. gracile (2015), G. dorsalisulcum (2015), G. microreticulatum (2014), G. micrum (2016) (valid name: Karlodinium micrum), G. pyrenoidosum (2016), G. simplex (2015), G. veneficum (2016) (valid name: Karlodinium veneficum), Gyrodinium aureum (2015), G. fusiforme (2015), G. dominans (2014), and Nusuttodinium latum (2016) (valid name: Amphidinium latum). (The numbers in parentheses refer to the year that the species was found). These species were newly recorded in Korean waters in this study.

In this study, the antimicrobial, antioxidant activities and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of Amphidinium carterae ethanol extract (AE) was evaluated for using as a functional food ingredient. Chlorella ethanol extract (CE) was used to the comparison as a control. Anticancer activities of the AE and CE were analyzed by HepG2 and HT-29 human cancer cell. The AE showed antimicrobial activities for all tested bacterial strains. Whereas, CE showed antimicrobial activities for several tested bacterial strains only. The CE showed higher total phenolics contents, DPPH and ABTS radical-scavenging activities (47.36 mg/g, 22.42% and 28.58%, respectively) than those of AE (8.88 mg/g, 20.16% and 17.69%, respectively). AE showed anti-diabetic effect on α-glucosidase inhibitory activity with dose-dependantly manner. The cell viability of AE (125 μg/mL) on HepG2 and HT-29 human cancer cells were 38.12% and 11.27%, respectively. It was demonstrated that ethanol was efficient solvent for extracting functional components from A. carterae. These results indicated that AE can be described as a good candidate for using as a functional food ingredient.

The effect of UV on the mortality rate of toxic dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae causing a red tide in the coastal area of south Korea was investigated in the batch and continuous-scale reactor equipped with ultraviolet irradiation-apparatus. Degussa P25 titanium oxide, a photocatalyst proved to be effective for the mortality of Amphidinium carterae supplied with photocatalyst and UV radiation were greater than 95% in 2 minutes of UV radiation and the rate were higher than that by UV-radiation without titanium dioxide in the batch and continuous-flow scale reactor. The mortality time of Amphidinium carterae increased with the cell density under UV-illumination in the batch scale reactor. The mortality rate in the density of 5.0×104 cells/mL at the same experimental condition was more than 90% in 4 minutes in the continuous flow scale reactor. The percentage of 99.9±0.1% of Amphidinium carterae in the density of 5.0×104 cells/mL was died in 20 minutes when the phytoplankton was illuminated with UV-radiation without photocatalyst.