First recorded proliferation of Coolia monotis (Meunier, 1919) in the North Lake of Tunis (Tunisia) correlation with environmental factors

Coolia monotis is a potentially toxic epiphytic dinoflagellate widespread along the Mediterranean coasts, where it is frequently detected year round at low concentrations. However, it only proliferates recurrently in some localities. The North Lake of Tunis is one of the affected areas in the southwestern part of the Mediterranean Sea. This site is one of the most productive aquatic Tunisian areas (Recreational Fisheries and shellfish collecting). In the south part of this area of study, recurrent C. monotis proliferation (5 ×10⁵ cells per liter) took place in late spring and early summer of 2006. During this proliferation, the spatial distribution of C. monotis species, phytoplankton community, and abiotic factors were studied. The composition of the phytoplankton community exhibited a clear dominance of dinoflagellates over other genera. We suggest that proliferation development of C. monotis was linked to climatic conditions, water temperature (r?=?0.24, p?<?0.05) and high concentrations of nitrogenous nutrients, essentially NH₄ ^?+? (r?=?0.18, p?<?0.05) and NO₃ ^??? (r?=?0.21, p?<?0.05).