Toxicity of a trumpet shell Charonia sauliae ("Boshubora") inhabiting along the coasts of Miyazaki Prefecture.

Abstract

A total of 375 specimens of a trumpet shell Charonia sauliae (“boshubora”) were collected from September 1982 through May 1984, from the following eight places in Miyazaki Prefecture: Kitaura (12 specimens), Urashiro (122), Yasui (24), Akamizu (122), Tsuno (22), Aoshima (24), Oshima (5), and Kushima (44). Digestive glands were excised from these specimens and examined for toxicity by an official assay method of tetrodotoxin.Seventy-two out of the 375 specimens (19%) were toxic, with the highest toxicity of 106 MU/g in the digestive gland. The frequency of toxic specimens varied between 0 and 55%, depending upon the place of collection. It was found that this shell as a whole is less toxic in Miyazaki Prefecture than in other prefectures so far screened.Out of the four specimens of a starfish Astropecten polyacanthus (“togemomijigai”) collected at Urashiro and Kushima, three were toxic (the highest toxicity score 18 MU/g for the whole body), suggesting its involvement in toxification of the trumpet shell.