The Generalist Parasite

Algophthora mediterranea is a newly identified marine fungus that infects and kills toxic dinoflagellates — the algae responsible for harmful coastal blooms. It parasitizes cells of Ostreopsis cf. ovata (which produces respiratory and skin irritants during blooms) and kills them within days.

The through-claim: the generalist survives between crises by eating something else. Most known marine parasites of harmful algae are specialists: one parasite, one host. This limits their ecological role — they can only control blooms of their specific target, and they can't persist when blooms aren't happening. Algophthora is different. It infects several algal species AND can survive on pollen grains. The pollen bridge lets it maintain population between bloom events.

This adaptability is why it was overlooked. Marine mycology focuses on specialists, because specialist parasites produce clear one-to-one dynamics that are easy to study. A fungus that eats pollen when there's no algae available looks like a generalist decomposer, not a bloom parasite. The parasite was invisible because it didn't behave like a parasite between outbreaks.

The broader pattern: biological control agents that persist between outbreaks are more valuable than those that only appear during them, but they're harder to identify precisely because their between-outbreak behavior camouflages their function. The generalist's versatility makes it ecologically important and taxonomically invisible at the same time. Every bloom that didn't happen because of quiet background parasitism left no evidence to study.