Cells of the dinoflagellate Gyrodinium impudicum form characteristic chains, which are associated with sugar accumulated on the cell surface. To resolve the relationship between chain-formation and cell surface sugar accumulation, confocal microscopy was used to observe sugar accumulation points in the vegetative cells and long chain-forming cells of G. impudicum cells treated with fluorescent-tagged ConA. In the stationary and exponential phases, both vegetative cells and chain-forming cells were similar to each other in fluorescent intensity. There was no evidence that chain-forming cells had a specific location for sugar accumulation on the cell surface. Most of the cells formed 2-cell chains one day after inoculation, but longer chains consisting of 4-8 cells increased markedly in 4day and 8 day cultures. Gyrodinium impudicum chains usually consist of more than four cells, and chains of 8 or even 16 cells can be observed in mature cultures. Temperature played an importantrole in chain-formation of the cells, threshold temperature for the development of long chain-formation was 19 $^{circ}$C.