History of marine mycology – a personal perspective

Abstract This article is a personal impression of the key scientists who contributed to the study of marine mycology over past 174 years, especially those the author met during his career studying this unique group of fungi. Marine mycology has been a journey of discovery from a few species to nearly 2000 taxa in nine fungal phyla. Techniques for their study have advanced from morphological observations, to the use of scanning and transmission electron microscopy, to the development of high-throughput sequencing technology and the unravelling of the genomes of selected species. Thoughts on the conservation of marine fungi, their adaptation to climate change and potential role in the decomposition of plastics are briefly considered.