The astounding genome of the dinoflagellate

The dinoflagellates aren't happy. In good times, these tiny ocean creatures live free-floating in the ocean or symbiotically with corals, serving up—or as—lunch to a host of mollusks, tiny fish and coral species. Some of them make glowing waves at night because they are bioluminescent. But when conditions are wrong, dinoflagellates poison shellfish beds with red tides and abandon coral reefs to a slow, bleached death.