Pfiesteria

Pfie·ster·ia fē-'stir-ē-ə, fis-'tir- n a genus of dinoflagellates including one (Pfiesteria piscicida) found in waters esp. along the middle and southern Atlantic coast of the U.S. that produces a toxin which causes skin lesions in fish, that feeds upon the lesions sometimes causing large fish die-offs, and that may cause symptoms (as skin lesions and memory loss) in humans exposed to the toxin

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Pfie·ste·ria (fe-steґre-ə) [Lois Ann Pfiester, American biologist, 1936–1992] a genus of minute, plantlike protozoa of the phylum Dinoflagellata, the cause of red tide in coastal waters of the southeastern United States.