This is the first report of negative effects of harmful Chattonella spp. on early-life stages of a bivalve mollusc, the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata.
Chattonella species affect only the motile post-embryonic stages of P. fucata.
Mucus traps are generated via physical disturbance of the algal glycocalyx by larvae.
Energetic exhaustion and suffocation might be the killing-mechanism.