The Cheju Current (CC), defined here as a mean eastward flow in the Cheju Strait, mostly carries water of high temperature and salinity originating from the Kuroshio in winter and spring, the Cheju Warm Current Water (CWCW). The strong core of the eastward component of the CC is found close to Cheju Island (Cheju-Do, hereafter) in winter and spring with a peak speed of about 17.0 cm/s. The eastward flow weakens towards the northern Cheju Strait, and a weak westward flow occurs occasionally close to the southern coast of Korea. The volume transport ranges from 0.37 to 0.45 Sv(1 Sv=10$^6$ m$^3$/s) in winter and spring. Seasonal thermocline and harocline are formed in summer and eroded in November. The occurrence of the CWCW is confined in the southern Cheju Strait close to Cheju-Do below the seasonal thermocline in summer and fall, and cold water occupies the lower layer north of the CWCW which is thought to be brought into the area from the area west of Cheju-Do along with the CWCW. Stratification acts to increase both the speed of the CC with a peak speed of greater than 30 cm/s and the vertical shear of the along-strait currents. The strong core of the CC detached from the coast of Cheju-Do and shifted to the north during the stratified seasons. The volume transport in summer and fall ranges 0.510.66 Sv, which is about 1.5 times larger than that in winter and spring. An annual cycle of the cross-strait sea level difference shows its maximum in summer and fall and minimum in winter and spring, whose tendency is consistent with the annual variability of the CC and its transport estimated from the ADCP measurements. Moored current measurements west of Cheju-Do indicate the clockwise turning of the CC, and the moored current measurements in the Cheju Strait for 1530 days show the low-frequency variability of the along-strait flow with a period of about 37 days.

Four different FITC-conjugated lectins were used to visually evaluate lectin binding activity by optical staining quality using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) of Cochzodinium polykrikoides in nature (wild type) and culture (cultured type). Cells from the field and cultures treated with ConA fluoresced only at the outer cell wall, and the abundance and distribution of the fluorescent signal were similar. Treatment with PWM and HPA did not elicit fluorescence at the cell surface, but the wild type exposed to HPA showed greater binding than did the cultured cells, possibly due to greater concentrations of glucosamine. The wild type cells treated with LBL lectin showed a strong green fluorescence on the cell surface, whereas cultured cells did not. Signal intensity and abundance were greater than for any other lectins tested in this study. These results suggest that wild type and cultured type are significantly different based on surface sugar production. In particular, the wild type cells apear richer in galactosamine-like moieties. Neither glucose nor mannose-like moieties were present in either wild types or cultured cells.

The relativity of four isolates of C. polykrikoides was determined by comparative sequence analysis based on direct sequencing of PCR amplified ribosomal DNA (the internal transcribed spacer region and the 5.8S rDNA). Sequence comparisons indicated that four isolates had the same nucleotide sites in the ITS regions, as well as a total of 585 nucleotide length and 100% homology. The molecular data revealed that C. polykrikoides in Korean coastal waters show no genetical difference.