Neurotoxins from three species of California goby: Clevelandia ios, Acanthogobius flavimanus and Gillichthys mirabilis

Abstract

K. S. Elam, F. A. Fuhrman, Y. H. Kim and H. S. Mosher. Neurotoxins from three species of California goby: Clevelandia ios, Acanthogobius flavimanus and Gillichthys mirabilis. Toxicon 15, 45–49, 1977.—Three species of fish, Clevelandia ios, Acanthogobius flavimanus, and Gillichthys mirabilis, belonging to the family Gobiidae were found to contain toxic substances that were lethal in mice and blocked the compound action potential of desheathed bullfrog axons. In G. mirabilis the toxin was found principally in the ovaries and liver. The toxin from the ovaries was purified and found to have a retention time by liquid chromatography similar to that of tetrodotoxin. From NMR spectroscopy the identity with tetrodotoxin could not be excluded owing to the small size of the sample. However, newts ( Taricha granulosa) that are extremely resistant to tetrodotoxin were killed by moderate doses of the toxin from Gillichthys ovaries, indicating that it differs from tetrodotoxin.