Variability and profiles of lipophilic toxins in bivalves from Great Britain during five and a half years of monitoring: azaspiracids and yessotoxins

Publication date: July 2019Source: Harmful Algae, Volume 87Author(s): Monika Dhanji-Rapkova, Alison O’Neill, Benjamin H. Maskrey, Lewis Coates, Sarah C. Swan, Mickael Teixeira Alves, Rebecca J. Kelly, Robert G. Hatfield, Stephanie J. Rowland-Pilgrim, Adam M. Lewis, Andrew D. TurnerAbstractCefas has been responsible for the delivery of official control biotoxin testing of bivalve molluscs from Great Britain for just over a decade. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric (LC–MS/MS) methodology has been used for the quantitation of lipophilic toxins (LTs) since 2011. The temporal and spatial distribution of okadaic acid group toxins and profiles in bivalves between 2011 and 2016 have been recently reported. Here we present data on the two other groups of regulated lipophilic toxins, azaspiracids (AZAs) and yessotoxins (YTXs), over the same period. The latter group has also been investigated for a potential link with Protoceratium reticulatum and Lingulodinium polyedra, both previously recognised as YTXs producing phytoplankton.On average, AZAs were quantified in 3.2% of all tested samples but notable inter-annual variation in abundance was observed. The majority of all AZA contaminated samples were found between July 2011 and August 2013 in Scotland, while only two, three-month long, AZA events were observed in 2015 and 2016 in the south-west of England. Maximum concentrations were generally reached in late summer or early autumn. Reasons for AZAs persistence during ...
Source: Harmful Algae - Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research