Domoic acid is new toxins that have been found along the west coast of the United States and Canada. The first time domoic acid poisoning was noticed was in Prince Edward Island 1987, when shellfish was consumed. Three people died, and more than 100 people showed the toxin symptoms. Then birds started to die off because they had been eating anchovies, and the anchovies had the toxin inside of them. Then after the fish the sea lions started to die off as well because they ate the fish. The toxin starts to travel through the food chain. Another name for domoic acid is “Red Tide.” Toxic algae poison marine mammals that cause the brain to have seizures, stranding and large amounts of deaths. To stop this from happening scientists can find a cure to prevent any more deaths.
Pseudo-nitzschia (SUE-doh NICH-e-yah) us a fraction of the thickness of human hair, single cell organism slides through seawater on a layer of mucus and mixes with domoic acid, a neurotoxin. There were samples found in the Gulf of Mexico that had flowed down to Mississippi. Pseudo-nitzschia didn’t multiply until 1950s when grain farmers began to use chemical fertilizers. During the spring and summer, when Pseudo-nitzschia grows along the California coast the male sea lions don’t eat; they are too busy guarding their breeding place. So it is mostly the females to be poisoned, because they are look for food while they are pregnant. Even the pups seem to have some domoic acid inside of them because in the urine there was some domoic acid to show up.
Domoic acid poisoning is a conditioning that scrambles the brains of marine mammals and causes them to wash ashore in California as predictably as the spring tides. Marine mammals pick up the acid by eating anchovies and s...
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...or domoic acid poisoning we can decrease the deaths by keeping our ocean clean.
Works Cited
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Osis, Vicki. Domoic Acid and Amnesiac Shellfish Poisoning: By Vicki Osis. Corvallis, Or.: Oregon Sea Grant, Oregon State U, 2003. Web. 23 May 2014.
Pulido, Olga M. "Abstract." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 28 May 2008. Web. 24 May 2014. .
Wallerstein, Peter. "Domoic Acid Poisoning." Marine Animal Rescue. Web. 23 May 2014. .
Washington State Department Of Health – Dchs – Communicable Disease Epidemiology. Shellfish Poisoning: Paralytic, Domoic Acid or Diarrhetic. Web.
This last process is significant not only because it brought dioxin the current notoriety but it also is a chemical process used to make products that were used and are still been used in many applications. These applications include pesticide, herbicide, defoliating agent such as Agent Orange, cleaning agent and electrical insulation. Consequently, human exposure to dioxin is not a recent phenomenon and the dangers of dioxin are not unknown. Only in recent years, especially after the Vietnam War, has the media concentrated on the dangers and impact of dioxin.
A defining feature of the lionfish which everyone sees are the “18 venomous spines on its dorsal fin and its pelvic and anal fins, which are used for defense” as described in FACE OFF WITH THE ENEMY: LIONFISH by Special To The Citizen. Which is a neurotoxin that results in intense pain and swelling of one’s body. Fernando Simal, a marine hunter at STINAPA National Marine Park, found out the potency of their venom after his first hunt when being stung by the lionfish he caug...
Acknowledgements: Slides of dead fish courtesy of OKDEQ. We would like to thank our students Trevor Nance Jr, and Matt Ward for their help in the laboratory sample preparations. We would also like to thank OKDEQ (Chris Armstrong) and EPA Region 6 (Rick McMillin) for their patience.
Pseudo-nitzschia is a type of algae that produces a very strong neurotoxin called Domoic Acid, which can accumulate in many types of marine animals causing either death or severe illness. Humans that consume the infected animals can be affected as well, and as a result risk getting Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning, which is an illness that can cause permanent short-term memory loss, severe brain damage, or even death in some cases.
Ross, P. R., Jeffries, S. J., Yunker, M. B., Ikonomou, M. G., & Calambokidis, J. C. (2004). Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) in British Columbia, Canada, and Washington State, USA, reveal a combination of local and global polychlorinated biphenyl, dioxin, and furan signals. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 23(1), 157-165. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1897/03-85/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false
Ciguatoxin originates from dinoflagellate algae and most commonly from the coral reef species of algae called Gambierodiscus toxicus primarily in tropical and subtropical regions (Kipping, Eastcott, Sarangi, 2006). The algae are eaten by herbivorous fishes that absorb the toxin without any significant observable effect (Kipping, Eastcott, Sarangi, 2006). The toxins remain in all parts of the fish flesh but there are higher concentrations of toxin in the viscera, liver and gonads. Bioaccumulation occurs as ciguatoxin progresses up the food chain. The species of fish with the highest quantity of ciguatoxin are the larger predators, primarily sharks and barracouda (Dickey, Plakas, 2010). The process of digestion itself appears to potentiate the toxicity (Kipping, Eastcott, Sarangi, 2006). The toxin is odorless and tasteless. Contaminated fish have no distinct taste and are undetectable (Bavastrelli, Bertucci, Midulla, Giardini, & Sanguigni, n.d.). The ciguatera toxins are heat stable and thus are not destroyed by cooking, freezing or acid (Kipping, Eastcott, Sarangi, 2006). Pre-market testing for the presence of CTX is currently not possible due to a lack of existing rapid field testing methods (Report, 2013).
Shier, W. 2008, “Introduction to the Special Issue on Lethal Toxin Neutralizing Factor", Toxin Reviews, vol. 27, pp. 79-80.
Watching a movie where hundreds of swimmers on a beach are in a complete panic because of shark attacks makes a person scared to swim in an ocean, lake, or even a pond. Not only movies, but also documentaries of shark attacks stress how dangerous sharks are. In reality, are sharks really that dangerous or is it how they are portrayed? Stephen R. Palumbi who is a Professor of Biology at Stanford University and also the Director at the Hopkins Marine Station at Stanford wrote an article about other animals living in the ocean that are more dangerous to humans than sharks. In fact, he has written books about creatures in the water such as The Death and Life of Monterey Bay, and The Evolution Explosion. In addition, his son Anthony R. Palumbi is a novelist and a science writer that has written for Atlantic and other publications (Princeton University Press 1). Together they co- authored an article titled “Forget Shark Week: They aren’t the only fish in the sea” that was published the Los Angeles Times.
Meyer, Kurt D., and Lubo Zhang. "Abstract." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 30 July 2005. Web. 16 Sept. 2013.
...als in addition it is very salty. Therefore, this can be very harmful for drinking water sources and to the environment as well if it was not properly controlled by officials (USGS).
Thalidomide is 90 years of aspartame, a.k.a. NutraSweet, Finn, Zero Cal, and other trademarks. The text of the American researcher Barbara Alexander Mullarkey was aired on the Internet by Betty Martini and his original can be found in http://www.dorway.com. This is a free radical for the Portuguese, made by me, Beatriz Medina in July 1996.
Nelson, A.N. 1971. Effects of oil on marine plants and animals. London: Institute of Petroleum.
...exico, resulting in the death of humans, wild and marine lives, in addition to contaminated water.
The bioaccumulation of POPs can be transported up a food chain because of their metabolic recalcitrance and their lipophilic efficiency (Fiedler, 2003). Pesticides, industrial chemicals, by-products of industrial processes, polychlorinated biphenyls, toxaphene, and hexachlorobenzene are some of the deleterious POPs that have been banned by the Stockholm Convention. Jones et. al. (1999) and Beland et. al. (1993) study the adverse effects of POPs in marine mammals, observing that the toxic chemicals caused malignant neoplasms, lesions in the digestive systems, pulmonary lesions, cysts on the adrenal glands, reproductive impairment, and damage to the immune system. Similar deleterious health risks are observed in the Northern and Southern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) and the Arctic polar bears (Ursus
12) Brad A. Andres (1997) The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Disrupted the Breeding of Black Oystercatchers. The Journal of Wildlife Management. Vol. 61, no. 4 pp. 1322-1328