Nodularia spumigena Mertens ex Bornet & Flahault (1888: 245)

Mcgregor, Glenn B., 2018, Freshwater Cyanobacteria of North-Eastern Australia: 3. Nostocales, Phytotaxa 359 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

Nodularia spumigena Mertens ex Bornet & Flahault (1888: 245) Fig. 19 A–E.

Filaments planktonic; trichomes solitary, straight or slightly flexuous to irregularly coiled. Trichomes cylindrical, constricted at the cross walls; sheath thick, fine, diffluent and indistinct. Vegetative cells discoid to shortly barrel-shaped, distinctly compressed, 2.0–4.5 μm long × 7.0–12.0 μm broad, with aerotopes. Heterocytes sub-spherical or discoid, 4.5–6.0 μm long × 7.5–11.5 μm broad, at regular intervals along the trichome. Akinetes sub-spherical to almost spherical, 6.5–10.5 μm long × 9.0–13.0 μm broad, single or multiple in series, mature epispore yellow-brown in colour.

Specimens examined:—Carbrook Lakes, Monterey Keys.

Other records:— Victoria: Ling & Tyler (2000); South Australia: Lake Alexandrina, Francis (1878), Geddes (1984), Lake Albert, Strathalbyn Res., shallow swamp at Naracoorte, Baker (1991); Western Australia: Peel-Harvey Estuary, Huber (1984), Lake Yangebup, Kemp (2009); Tasmania: Ling & Tyler (2000).

Observations:—Wide distribution throughout temperate and subtropical areas. Australian populations produce the cyanotoxin nodularin ( Heresztyn & Nicholson 1997). This species has also been frequently reported as forming nuisance coastal blooms including in the Peel-Harvey Estuary, Western Australia ( Huber 1986) and as a persistent bloom in a cable ski park lake in SE Queensland ( McGregor et al. 2012, Stewart et al. 2012).