Possible association of marine bacteria with paralytic shellfish toxicity of bivalves

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Abstract
Significant amounts of paralytic shellfish toxins (PSP toxins) were detected in particles in the size fraction 0.45 to 5 .mu.m in seawater from Ofunato Bay, Japan, collected at a time when the toxicity of scallop increased in the absence of the causative organism Protogonyaulax tamarensis. Toxin in the same fraction was negligible when scallop toxicity was decreasing. PSP toxins were also detected in the bacterial fraction from cell-free cultured medium of P. tamarensis. Previously, we reported that Moraxella sp. isolated from P. tamarensis produces PSP toxins. About 17 and 60% respectively of bacteria in the seawater and the cultured medium of P. tamarensis reacted with anti-Moraxella sp. serum. These results suggest that PSP toxin-producing bacteria are present in the environmental water and are responsible for bivalve toxicity.