Analysis of paralytic shellfish toxins of xanthid crabs in okinawa.

Abstract

Screening of paralytic shellfish toxins in the marine organisms living on the coral reefs revealed that three species of xanthid crabs, Zosimus aeneus, Atergatis floridus and Platypodia granulosa, contained high amounts of toxin, ranging from 180 to 590 MU/g. Weak toxicity was detected in the spider conch Lambis lambis, but other specimens including two bivalves were negative, indicating the causative organism is not planktonic but benthic. A. floridus and Z. aeneus contained neosaxitoxin as the major component and saxitoxin and gonyautoxin II as minor ones. A trace amount of gonyautoxin I was also detected in Z. aeneus. Unlike these two species, P. granulosa contained only saxitoxin. The toxin compositions of these crabs were distinctly different from those of the marine snails living in the same environment in lacking the new toxincoded TST.