A COCCOLITHOPHORID BLOOM IN JERVIS BAY, AUSTRALIA

A massive algal bloom of the coccolithophorid Gephyrocapsa oceanica Ka mptner (Prymnesiophyceae) developed in Jervis Bay, a coastal embayment at 34-degrees-S on the New South Wales coast, in mid December 1992. T he bloom coloured the entire bay a dramatic milky blue-green, which wa s clearly visible from aircraft and detectable in the visible band by the US satellite NOAA-11. The bloom, which reached cell densities of 1 .8 x 10(7) cells L-1, persisted for a month. Such high densities of co ccolithophorids have not been recorded before in Australian waters. Fu rthermore, it is the first record, world-wide, of a large-scale mono-s pecific bloom of G. oceanica. The bloom is suggested to have been driv en by an intrusion of continental-slope water that continuously entere d into the bottom of the bay.