Higher Classification: > Kingdom Chromista > Subkingdom Harosa > Infrakingdom Alveolata > Phylum Myzozoa > Subphylum Dinozoa > Infraphylum Dinoflagellata > Class Dinophyceae > Order Noctilucales > Family Noctilucaceae > Genus Noctiluca

Noctiluca scintillans (Macartney) Kofoid & Swezy, 1921

Rank: Species
Taxon Status: accepted

Relationships towards this taxon

Genus group names

*Noctiluca*	Suriray, 1836	accepted genus name

Species group names

*Noctiluca miliaris*	Suriray, 1816	basionym
*Medusa scintillans*	Macartney, 1810	synonym

Vernaculars (+) (-)

Dutch: zeevonk

English: sea sparkle sources: Encyclopædia Britannica

Japanese: ヤコウチュウ sources: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology. (2009 onwards). Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL). Accessed on 2018-11-21.

Swedish: mareld

Literature

basis of record	Gómez, F. (2005). A list of free-living dinoflagellate species in the world's oceans. Acta Bot. Croat. 64(1): 129-212.
additional source	Brandt, S. (2001). Dinoflagellates, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 47-53
additional source	Muller, Y. (2004). Faune et flore du littoral du Nord, du Pas-de-Calais et de la Belgique: inventaire. [Coastal fauna and flora of the Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Belgium: inventory]. Commission Régionale de Biologie Région Nord Pas-de-Calais: France. 307 pp.
additional source	Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. (2025). AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. searched on YYYY-MM-DD.
additional source	Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. China Science Press. 1267 pp.
additional source	Kofoid, C.A.; Swezy, O. (1921). The free-living unarmored Dinoflagellata. Memoirs of the University of California. 5: i-viii, 1-562.
additional source	Steidinger, K. A., M. A. Faust, and D. U. Hernández-Becerril. 2009. Dinoflagellates (Dinoflagellata) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 131–154 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College
additional source	Chang, F.H.; Charleston, W.A.G.; McKenna, P.B.; Clowes, C.D.; Wilson, G.J.; Broady, P.A. (2012). Phylum Myzozoa: dinoflagellates, perkinsids, ellobiopsids, sporozoans, in: Gordon, D.P. (Ed.) (2012). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: 3. Kingdoms Bacteria, Protozoa, Chromista, Plantae, Fungi. pp. 175-216.
additional source	Tomas, C.R. (Ed.). (1997). Identifying marine phytoplankton. Academic Press: San Diego, CA [etc.] (USA). ISBN 0-12-693018-X. XV, 858 pp.
additional source	Kofoid, C.A. (1931). Report of the biological survey of Mutsu Bay. 18. Protozoan Fauna of Mutsu Bay. Subclass Dinoflagellata; Tribe Gymnodinioidae. Science Reports of the Tohoku Imperial University. Fourth Series, Biology. 6(1): 1-43.
ecology source	Subrahmanyan, R. (1954). A new member of the Euglenineæ, Protoeuglena Noctilucæ gen. et sp. nov., occurring in Noctiluca miliaris suriray, causing green discoloration of the sea off Calicut. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences-Section B. 39(3): 118-127.
ecology source	Leles, S. G.; Mitra, A.; Flynn, K. J.; Stoecker, D. K.; Hansen, P. J.; Calbet, A.; McManus, G. B.; Sanders, R. W.; Caron, D. A.; Not, F.; Hallegraeff, G. M.; Pitta, P.; Raven, J. A.; Johnson, M. D.; Glibert, P. M.; Våge, S. (2017). Oceanic protists with different forms of acquired phototrophy display contrasting biogeographies and abundance. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 284(1860): 20170664.
ecology source	Wang, L.; Lin, X.; Goes, J. I.; Lin, S. (2016). Phylogenetic Analyses of Three Genes of Pedinomonas noctilucae, the Green Endosymbiont of the Marine Dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans, Reveal its Affiliation to the Order Marsupiomonadales (Chlorophyta, Pedinophyceae) under the Reinstated Name Protoeuglena noctilucae. Protist. 167(2): 205-216.
ecology source	Mitra, A.; Caron, D. A.; Faure, E.; Flynn, K. J.; Leles, S. G.; Hansen, P. J.; McManus, G. B.; Not, F.; Do Rosario Gomes, H.; Santoferrara, L. F.; Stoecker, D. K.; Tillmann, U. (2023). The Mixoplankton Database (MDB): Diversity of photo‐phago‐trophic plankton in form, function, and distribution across the global ocean. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 70(4).
ecology source	Harrison, P. J.; Furuya, K.; Glibert, P. M.; Xu, J.; Liu, H. B.; Yin, K.; Lee, J. H. W.; Anderson, D. M.; Gowen, R.; Al-Azri, A. R.; Ho, A. Y. T. (2011). Geographical distribution of red and green Noctiluca scintillans. Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology. 29(4): 807-831.

Genbank

Taxonomy

Published in AlgaeBase

Citation

Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. (2025). AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway (taxonomic information republished from AlgaeBase with permission of M.D. Guiry). Noctiluca scintillans (Macartney) Kofoid & Swezy, 1921. Via: Costello, M.J.; Bouchet, P.; Boxshall, G.; Arvantidis, C.; Appeltans, W. (2011) European Register of Marine Species, Accessed through PESI at http://www.eu-nomen.eu/portal/taxon.php?GUID=urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:109921