fēˈstirēa, fisˈtir noun
Usage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, from Lois Ann Pfiester Fink died 1992 American microbiologist + New Latin -ia
: a genus of dinoflagellates including one ( Pfiesteria piscicida ) found in waters especially along the middle southern Atlantic coast of the United States 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