The adverse effect of harmful plankton on the marine ecosystem is a topic of deep concern. To investigate the role of such phytoplankton, a mathematical model containing distinct dynamical equations for toxic and non-toxic phytoplankton is analyzed. Stability analysis of the resulting three equation model is carried out. A continuous time variation in toxin liberation process is incorporated into the model and a stability analysis of the resulting delay model is performed. The distributed delay model is then extended to include the spatial distribution of plankton and the delay-diffusion model is analyzed with spatial and spatiotemporal kernels. Conditions for diffusion-driven instability in both the cases are derived and compared to explore the significance of these kernels. Numerical studies are performed to justify analytical findings.