Abstract
Intestines of a starfish Astropecten polyacanthus were examined for microflora, as part of the studies on the mechanism of toxification of trumpet shell Charonia sauliae which contains mostly tetrodotoxin (TTX) and sporadically causes human poisonings. The starfish showed a somewhat unique microflora which was composed mainly of bacteria belonging to the two genera Vibrio and Staphylococcus. Four V. alginolyticus and six V. damsela strains were identified from among a total of 22 strains isolated. The cell extract of each strain was analyzed for TTX by HPLC, UV spectrophotometry and GC-MS. TTX was identified in two V. alginolyticus strains by all the three methods. In addi-tion, some V. alginolyticus and V. damsela strains, as well as some Staphylococcus strains, disclosed the presence of TTX when analyzed by GC-MS and/or HPLC. It was concluded from these results that these strains, especially the two V. alginolyticus strains, could closely be involved in toxification of the starfish.
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