gonyaulax, n. Bot.
(gəʊnɪˈɔːlæks)
Also Gony-.
[a. mod.L. Gonyaulax (K. M. Diesing 1866, in Sitzungsber. d. K. Akad. der Wissensch. (Wien) Math.-Nat. Classe Abt. I. LII. 305), f. Gr. γόνυ knee + αὖλαξ furrow.]
A dinoflagellate alga of the genus Gonyaulax, often present in red-water (red-water n. 4).
| 1902 Amer. Naturalist XXXVI. 187 Under the microscope Gonyaulax responded with a flash of light to any marked disturbance of the water containing it. 1959 [see dinoflagellate n. (a.)]. 1971 M. Alexander Microbial Ecol. xiv. 338 Strains of Gonyaulax and Paulseniella will invade diatoms as well as other dinoflagellates. 1973 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 20 Nov. 3/1 The shellfish apparently were poisoned by a micro-organism known as gonyaulax, a highly toxic micro-organism that causes the red tide that attacks the gills of fish. 1983 New Scientist 16 June 760/1 The effect of the sludge has been to..promote the spread of a phytoplankton, gonyaulax, that is toxic to marine life. |