HUMPBACK WHALES (MEGAPTERA-NOVAEANGLIAE) FATALLY POISONED BY DINOFLAGELLATE TOXIN
HUMPBACK WHALES (MEGAPTERA-NOVAEANGLIAE) FATALLY POISONED BY DINOFLAGELLATE TOXIN
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DOI：
10.1139/f89-238
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发表时间：
1989-11-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
MAYO, CA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
GERACI, JR;ANDERSON, DM;MAYO, CA
1987年11月下旬开始的5周内，14头座头鲸（Megaptera novaeangliae）在美国科德角湾（Cape Cod Bay）食用了含有蛤蚌毒素（STX）的大西洋鲭鱼（Scomber scombrus）后死亡。蛤蚌毒素是一种甲藻神经毒素，可导致人类麻痹性贝类中毒。我们提出了一系列证据来解释鲸鱼，由于它们的潜水适应，可能特别容易受到这种系统性神经毒素的影响。在这一事件中，新英格兰水域和贝类中没有发现STX，这表明在圣劳伦斯湾产卵的北方鲭鱼在那里积累了毒素，并于1987年秋天将其运送到缅因湾和科德角湾。这些发现挑战了人们对浮游生物毒素在食物链中移动方式的普遍看法，并为海洋哺乳动物的自然死亡和搁浅提供了新的见解。在调查海洋哺乳动物的死亡率时，寻找STX和其他植物毒素似乎是合适的。
During a 5-wk period beginning in late November, 1987, 14 humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, died in Cape Cod Bay [USA] after eating Atlantic mackerel, Scomber scombrus, containing saxitoxin (STX), a dinoflagellate neurotoxin responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning in humans. We propose a line of evidence to explain how whales, by virtue of their diving adaptations, may be particularly vulnerable to this systemic neurotoxin. Absence of STX in New England waters and shellfish during the episode suggests that the mackerel, representing the northern stock which spawns in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, accumulated the toxin there and delivered it to the Gulf of Maine and Cape Cod Bay in the fall of 1987. These findings challenge common perceptions of the manner in which planktonic toxins move through the food chain, and offer new insights into natural mortality and strandings of marine mammals. It seems appropriate to search for STX and other phytotoxins when investigating marine mammal mortalities.