Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
8778169 
Journal Article 
THE OCCURRENCE OF DOMOIC ACID IN RAZOR CLAMS (SILIQUA-PATULA), DUNGENESS CRAB (CANCER-MAGISTER), AND ANCHOVIES (ENGRAULIS-MORDAX) 
Wekell, J; Gauglitz, E; Barnett, H; Hatfield, C; Eklund, M 
1994 
1 
Journal of Shellfish Research
ISSN: 0730-8000
EISSN: 1943-6319 
13 
2 
587-593 
English 
WOS:A1994QC15100032 
In September 1991, water fowl died in Monterey Bay, CA, after eating anchovies (Engraulis mordax) contaminated with domoic acid. Analysis revealed that the anchovies contained up to 485 ppm domoic acid in their viscera. This was the first reported incidence of domoic acid-related mortality of any organism in the United States. After this reported outbreak we obtained frozen samples of anchovies that were harvested near Newport, CA, in April 1991 and found they contained 270 ppm domoic acid in their viscera. By May, average domoic acid levels in frozen anchovy samples from this same area were less than 1 ppm. In October 1991, domoic acid was detected in razor clams (Siliqua patula) from Oregon and Washington and appeared to peak (an average of 106 ppm for all Washington State beaches) in the first week of December 1991. The averages then declined to less than 20 ppm without 6 months. However, domoic acid was still present at low levels (averages <5 ppm) in razor clams from Washington state beaches in December 1993. Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) in Washington and Oregon were also found to contain domoic acid, but only in their viscera. Domoic acid concentrations in the raw viscera of individual crabs from Washington state in December 1991 averaged 13 ppm and ranged from 0.8 to 90 ppm. The highest average levels of domoic acid in Washington state crabs were in the Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay samples, 32 and 31 ppm, respectively. By 1992 domoic acid level averages were <5 ppm in preseason samples of Dungeness crab taken along the Oregon and Washington coasts, ranging from 0 to 71 ppm. The highest levels of domoic acid in 1992 (36-71 ppm) were recorded in samples taken early in that year (January through April). 
DOMOIC ACID; DUNGENESS CRAB; CANCER MAGISTER; ANCHOVIES; ENGRAULIS MORDAX; RAZOR CLAMS; SILIQUA PATULA; DIATOM PSEUDONITZSCHIA-AUSTRALIS; CALIFORNIA