ABSTRACT: Adult scallops, Patinopecten yessoensis, held for 8 d separately in tanks and fed known amounts of cultured cells of the dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense were held without feeding for an additional 10 d. During the 18 d study, 3 scallops were removed every 2 d and the quantity of of each toxin present was analyzed individually. The toxins released into the environmental seawater were recovered and also analyzed. These experiments showed that the individual variation in bivalve toxicity often observed in feeding experiments and field surveys is due to differences in the amounts of dinoflagellate cells ingested by the bivalves and that a portion of the total amount of toxins accumulated in the scallop is released into the environmental water. However, the sum of the amount of toxins in the scallop and that released into the water cannot be explained in terms of the amount supplied by A. tamarense, suggesting that in addition to toxin accumulation from the food chain, another unknown mechanism is involved in toxin accumulation in the scallop. The toxins incorporated into the scallop from A. tamarense are considered to undergo metabolism in the scallop through which the toxins are changed to derivatives undetectable by HPLC.

KEY WORDS: Scallop · Patinopecten yessoensis · Alexandrium tamarense · Feeding experiment · Paralytic shellfish toxins

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Published in MEPS Vol. 220 (2001) on September 27
Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599. Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 2001