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Ciguatoxin
image:ciguatoxin.svg, 300px, class=skin-invert-image, Chemical structure of the ciguatoxin CTX1B Ciguatoxins are a class of toxic Polycyclic compound, polycyclic polyethers found in fish that cause ciguatera. There are several different chemicals in this class. "CTX" is often used as an abbreviation. * Ciguatoxin 1 - * Ciguatoxin 2 - * Ciguatoxin 3 - * Ciguatoxin 4B (Gambiertoxin 4b) - Toxic effect on humans Ciguatoxins do not seem to harm the fish that carry them, but they are poisonous to humans. They cannot be smelled or tasted and cannot be destroyed by cooking. Rapid testing for this toxin in food is not standard. Some ciguatoxins lower the threshold for opening excitatory voltage-gated sodium channels in the nervous system. Opening a sodium channel causes depolarization, which could sequentially cause paralysis, heart arrhythmia, and changing the senses of heat and cold. Such poisoning from ciguatoxins is known as ciguatera. Ciguatoxins are lipophilic, able to cros ...
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Ciguatoxin 1
Ciguatoxin 1 or CTX-1 is a toxic chemical compound, the most common and potent type in the group of ciguatoxins. It is a large molecule consisting of polycyclic polyethers that can be found in certain types of fish in the Pacific Ocean. The compound is produced by Dinoflagellates ''Gambierdiscus toxicus'' and is passed on through the food chain by fish. The compound has no effect in fish but is toxic to humans.   History Before ciguatoxin was discovered and identified, its presence in the food chain was hypothesised by Randall et al, who assumed that the toxin enters the food chain via herbivorous fish that feed on toxic microalgae and then gets passed on to humans directly or by passing through other carnivorous fish. This hypothesis was proven by Helfrich and Banner, who also showed that the toxin has no effect on fish, both herbivorous and carnivorous. Ciguatoxin-1 was first discovered in 1967 by Scheuer et al when studying ciguatera fish responsible for food poisoning. ...
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Ciguatera
Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP), also known as ciguatera, is a foodborne illness caused by eating tropical reef fish contaminated with ciguatoxins. Such individual fish are said to be ciguatoxic. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, numbness, itchiness, dysesthesia, sensitivity to hot and cold, dizziness, and weakness with lethargy. The onset of symptoms varies with the amount of toxin absorbed. If a large quantity of toxins are consumed symptoms may appear within half an hour. If a low amount of toxins are consumed symptoms may take a few days to appear. Diarrhea may last up to four days. Symptoms may last a few weeks to a few months. Heart problems such as slow heart rate and low blood pressure may occur. The specific toxins involved are the ciguatoxins and maitotoxin. They are originally made by a small marine organism, '' Gambierdiscus toxicus'', that grows on and around coral reefs in tropical and subtropical waters. These are eaten by herbivorous fish which in turn ...
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Tetrodotoxin
Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin. Its name derives from Tetraodontiformes, an Order (biology), order that includes Tetraodontidae, pufferfish, porcupinefish, ocean sunfish, and triggerfish; several of these species carry the toxin. Although tetrodotoxin was discovered in these fish, it is found in several other animals (e.g., in blue-ringed octopus, blue-ringed octopuses, Taricha, rough-skinned newts, and Naticidae, moon snails). It is also produced by certain infectious or symbiotic bacteria like ''Pseudoalteromonas tetraodonis, Pseudoalteromonas'', ''Pseudomonas'', and ''Vibrio'' as well as other species found in symbiotic relationships with animals and plants. Although it produces thousands of intoxications annually and several deaths, it has shown efficacy for the treatment of cancer-related pain in phase II and III clinical trials. Tetrodotoxin is a sodium channel blocker. It inhibits the firing of action potentials in neurons by binding to the voltage-gated sodiu ...
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Saxitoxin
Saxitoxin (STX) is a potent neurotoxin and the best-known paralytic shellfish toxin. Ingestion of saxitoxin by humans, usually by consumption of shellfish contaminated by toxic algal blooms, is responsible for the illness known as paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). The term saxitoxin originates from the genus name of the butter clam ('' Saxidomus'') from which it was first isolated. But the term saxitoxin can also refer to the entire suite of more than 50 structurally related neurotoxins (known collectively as "saxitoxins") produced by protists, algae and cyanobacteria which includes saxitoxin itself (STX), neosaxitoxin (NSTX), gonyautoxins (GTX) and decarbamoylsaxitoxin (dcSTX). Saxitoxin has a large environmental and economic impact, as its presence in bivalve shellfish such as mussels, clams, oysters and scallops frequently leads to bans on commercial and recreational shellfish harvesting in many temperate coastal waters around the world including the Northeastern and ...
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Okadaic Acid
Okadaic acid, C44H68O13, is a toxin produced by several species of dinoflagellates. It is known to accumulate in both marine sponges and shellfish. One of the primary causes of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, okadaic acid is a potent inhibitor of specific protein phosphatases, and has a variety of negative effects on cells. A polyketide, polyether derivative of a C38 fatty acid, okadaic acid and other members of its family have illuminated many biological processes both with respect to dinoflagellate polyketide synthesis as well as the role of protein phosphatases in cell growth. History As early as 1961, reports of gastrointestinal disorders following the consumption of cooked mussels appeared in both the Netherlands and Los Lagos. Attempts were made to determine the source of the symptoms; however, they failed to elucidate the true culprit, instead implicating a species of microplanctonic dinoflagellates. In the summers of the late 1970s, a series of food poisoning outbrea ...
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Domoic Acid
Domoic acid (DA) is a kainic acid-type neurotoxin that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP). It is produced by algae and accumulates in shellfish, sardines, and anchovies. When sea lions, otters, cetaceans, humans, and other predators eat contaminated animals, poisoning may result. Exposure to this compound affects the brain, causing seizures, delirium and possibly death. History There has been little use of domoic acid throughout history except for in Japan, where it has been used as an anthelmintic for centuries. Domoic acid was first isolated in 1959 from a species of red algae, ''Chondria (alga), Chondria armata'', in Japan, which is commonly referred to as ''dōmoi'' (ドウモイ) in the Tokunoshima dialect, or ''hanayanagi''. Poisonings in history have been rare, or undocumented; however, it is thought that the increase in human activities is resulting in an increasing frequency of harmful algal blooms along coastlines in recent years. In 2015, the North American Pacific ...
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Brevetoxin
Brevetoxin (PbTx), or brevetoxins, are a suite of cyclic polyether compounds produced naturally by a species of dinoflagellate known as ''Karenia brevis''. Brevetoxins are neurotoxins that bind to voltage-gated sodium channels in nerve cells, leading to disruption of normal neurological processes and causing the illness clinically described as neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP). Although brevetoxins are most well-studied in ''K. brevis'', they are also found in other species of '' Karenia'' and at least one large fish kill has been traced to brevetoxins in '' Chattonella''. Types of brevetoxins Brevetoxins are grouped into two main types: brevetoxin A and brevetoxin B. They are further classified by what chemical substituent ( R group) is attached at certain positions within the core molecule. Other Brevetoxins *Brevetoxin-5 (PbTx-5): like brevetoxin-2, but acetylated hydroxyl group in position 38. *Brevetoxin-6 (PbTx-6): like PbTx-2, but double bond 27-28 is epoxidated ...
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Lionfish
''Pterois'' is a genus of venomous fish, venomous marine fish, commonly known as the lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific. It is characterized by conspicuous aposematism, warning coloration with red or black bands and ostentatious dorsal fins tipped with venomous Spine (zoology), spines. ''Pterois radiata'', ''Pterois volitans'', and ''Pterois miles'' are the most commonly studied species in the genus. ''Pterois'' species are popular aquarium fish. ''P. volitans'' and ''P. miles'' are recent and significant invasive species in the west Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, and Mediterranean Sea. Taxonomy ''Pterois'' was described as a genus in 1817 by German natural history, naturalist, botany, botanist, biologist, and ornithology, ornithologist Lorenz Oken. In 1856, French naturalist Eugène Anselme Sébastien Léon Desmarest designated ''Scorpaena volitans'', which had been named by Marcus Elieser Bloch, Bloch in 1787 and which was the same as Linnaeus's 1758 ''Gasterosteus volitans'', as th ...
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Ion Channel Toxins
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convention. The net charge of an ion is not zero because its total number of electrons is unequal to its total number of protons. A cation is a positively charged ion with fewer electrons than protons (e.g. K+ (potassium ion)) while an anion is a negatively charged ion with more electrons than protons (e.g. Cl− (chloride ion The term chloride refers to a compound or molecule that contains either a chlorine anion (), which is a negatively charged chlorine atom, or a non-charged chlorine atom covalently bonded to the rest of the molecule by a single bond (). The pro ...) and OH− (hydroxide ion)). Opposite electric charges are pulled towards one another by electrostatic force, so cations and anions attract each other and readily form ionic ...
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Sea Bass
Sea bass is a common name for a variety of species of marine fish. Many fish species of various families have been called sea bass. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, the fish sold and consumed as sea bass is exclusively the European bass, ''Dicentrarchus labrax''. Sometimes referred to as sea bass include the following: Family Serranidae Family Serranidae * Genus '' Paralabrax'' ** Barred sand bass (''Paralabrax nebulifer'') lives mainly off the coast of California. * Genus '' Centropristis'' ** Black sea bass (''Centropristis striata'') is found on the East Coast of the United States. * Genus '' Caesioperca'' ** Butterfly perch (''Caesioperca Lepidoptera'') is found in the eastern Indian Ocean and the southwest Pacific Ocean, including southern Australia and New Zealand. * Genus '' Caprodon'' ** Pink maomao (''Caprodon longimanus'') is found in the eastern Indian Ocean and the southern Pacific Ocean, including Australia and New Zealand. * Genus ''Epinephelus'' ** Potato cod ( ...
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King Mackerel
The king mackerel (''Scomberomorus cavalla'') surmayi or kingfish, is a migratory species of mackerel of the western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. It is an important species to both the commercial and recreational fishing industries. Description The king mackerel is a medium-sized fish, typically encountered from to , but is known to exceed . The entire body is covered with very small, hardly visible, loosely attached scales. The first (spiny) dorsal fin is entirely colorless and is normally folded back into a body groove, as are the pelvic fins. The lateral line starts high on the shoulder, dips abruptly at mid-body and then continues as a wavy horizontal line to the tail. Coloration is olive on the back, fading to silver with a rosy iridescence on the sides, fading to white on the belly. Fish under show yellowish-brown spots on the flanks, somewhat smaller than the spots of the Atlantic Spanish mackerel, ''Scomberomorus maculatus''. Its cutting-edged teeth are large, u ...
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