Emerging occurrence of Gambierdiscus carolinianus in the Azores: The northernmost Atlantic record

The dinoflagellate genus Gambierdiscus was detected for the first time in the Azores Archipelago, representing its northernmost record to date (> 39°N). Two strains were isolated from macroalgal substrates on Corvo and Faial Islands during the summer of 2024, coinciding with a marine heatwave in which sea‐surface temperature anomalies exceeded +2°C. Morphological and molecular analyses identified both isolates as Gambierdiscus carolinianus , extending further North the known range of this genus in the Atlantic and complementing previous records from other Macaronesian archipelagos. The Azorean isolate from Corvo clustered more closely with western Atlantic populations than with Madeira or the Canary Islands strains, suggesting long‐range connectivity potentially driven by oceanographic processes. Although no ciguatera poisoning (CP) cases have been reported in the Azores, the occurrence of Gambierdiscus highlights the need for sustained monitoring and ecological assessments to evaluate the risk of CP emergence in this remote temperate archipelago under shifting environmental conditions.