In contrast to certain other species of the genus, Mesodinium chamaeleon can be maintained in culture for short periods only.

The prey is ingested very rapidly into a food vacuole without the cryptomonad flagella being shed and the trichocysts being discharged.

The individual food vacuoles subsequently serve as photosynthetic units, each containing the cryptomonad chloroplast, a nucleus, and some mitochondria.

Although one of them denominated as M. rubrum is known as a non-toxic species, ciliate blooms can be potentially harmful to aquaculture industries.

M. rubrum performs photosynthesis by sequestering the nucleus of its cryptophytic prey, in order to keep the plastids and other stolen organelles.