Comparison of Phycotoxin Data from Field Surveys in the North and South Atlantic

KROCK, BERND; TILLMANN, URBAN; CEMBELLA, ALLAN; LOVRICH, GUSTAVO A.; BOREL, MARCELA

Sydney

Conferencia; International Conference on Molluscan Shellfish Safety; 2013

:  Due to the global warming it is likely, and first reports hint into this direction, that plankton including HAB species from temperate regions spread into colder and polar regions and hereby may affect shellfish culturing and management in these pristine areas. In order to study this phenomenon we conducted two field surveys in 2012 in the Atlantic Ocean. The first campaign was on the southern hemisphere in  Argentinean shelf waters between latitudes 38°S and 56°S in March/April 2012 and the second campaign on the northern hemisphere in coastal waters of western Greenland and Iceland between latitudes 60°N and 71°N in July/August 2012. During both campaigns plankton was sampled by phytoplankton net hauls with subsequent size fractionation as well as water sampling with Niskin bottles from discrete depths. In addition at selected stations sediment samples were taken with van Veen samplers for the detection of dinoflagellate cysts. Samples were split into aliquots and will be extracted for hydrophilic paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins and for lipophilic phycotoxins including the cyclic imine toxins gymnodimines and spirolides, diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) okadaic acid and dinophysistoxins, pectenotoxins, yessotoxins, azaspiracids and the amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) causing domoic acid. Hydrophilic PSP toxins will be analysed by liquid chromatography with post-column derivatization and fluorescence detection, whereas all other toxins will be analysed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The occurrence of phycotoxins will be discussed in terms of known distributions in adjacent temperate regions and comparisons between the two hemispheres will be drawn.