Predatory dinoflagellate

It is an ambush predator that utilizes a hit and run feeding strategy by releasing a toxin that paralyzes the respiratory systems of susceptible fish, such as menhaden, thus causing death by suffocation.

[12] Its deadly nature has led to Pfiesteria being referred to as "killer algae"[15][16] and has earned the organism the reputation as the "T. rex of the dinoflagellate world"[17] or "the Cell from Hell.

In Yann Martel's 2001 novel Life of Pi, the protagonist encounters a floating island of carnivorous algae inhabited by meerkats while shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean.

At a book reading in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Martel explained that the carnivorous algae island had the purpose of representing the more fantastical of two competing stories in his novel and challenge the reader to a "leap of faith.

"[21] In the 2005 National Geographic TV show Extraterrestrial, the alien organism termed Hysteria combines characteristics of Pfiesteria with those of cellular slime molds.