Variability of Amnesic Shellfish Toxin and Pseudo-nitzschia occurrence in bivalve molluscs and water samples–Analysis of ten years of the official control monitoring programme

Publication date: July 2019Source: Harmful Algae, Volume 87Author(s): Stephanie Rowland-Pilgrim, Sarah C. Swan, Alison O’Neill, Sarah Johnson, Lewis Coates, Patrycja Stubbs, Karl Dean, Rachel Parks, Keith Harrison, Mickael Teixeira Alves, Alison Walton, Keith Davidson, Andrew D. Turner, Benjamin H. MaskreyAbstractAs the official control laboratory for marine biotoxins within Great Britain, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, in conjunction with the Scottish Association for Marine Science, has amassed a decade’s worth of data regarding the prevalence of the toxins associated with Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning within British waters. This monitoring involves quantitative HPLC-UV analysis of shellfish domoic acid concentration, the causative toxin for Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning, and water monitoring for Pseudo-nitzschia spp., the phytoplankton genus that produces domoic acid. The data obtained since 2008 indicate that whilst the occurrence of domoic acid in shellfish was generally below the maximum permitted limit of 20 mg/kg, there were a number of toxic episodes that breached this limit. The data showed an increase in the frequency of both domoic acid occurrence and toxic events, although there was considerable annual variability in intensity and geographical location of toxic episodes. A particularly notable increase in domoic acid occurrence in England was observed during 2014. Comparison of Scottish toxin data and Pseudo-nitzschia cell densiti...
Source: Harmful Algae - Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research