General Information

Event name: US-08-004
Country: UNITED STATES
Nature of the harmful event:
Seafood toxins
Event directly affected:
Shellfish
Toxicity detected: Yes (Approximate range: <300 ug/100g tissue)
Associated syndrome: PSP
Unexplained toxicity:
Species implicated in toxin transmission (transvector):
Report the outcome of a monitoring programme: Yes (California Dept. of Public Health, Marine Biotoxin Program)
Event occurred before in this location: Yes (Historically it is rare to have detectable PSP toxicity below Pt. Conception (Santa Barbara through San Diego); this pattern has changed in recent years with PSP occurring in this region each of the past several years.)
Individuals to contact: LANGLOIS, Gregg

Location & Date

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Location: Latitude: 33.308889, Longitude:
General location information: Santa Barbara, Southern California
HAB Area code(s): US-19 US-21
Additional location information: Low level toxicity persisted as far south as San Diego County, with an alert level of toxin in mussels from Agua Hedionda Lagoon in SD: About 160 linear miles between positive sites in SB adn SD.
Bloom event dates (yyyy/mm/dd): Start: 2008-03-01, End: 2008-03-31
Quarantine levels dates (yyyy/mm/dd):
Additional date-related information: Unusual aseasonal event in SB in January and at SD in March. Low level PSP toxocity persisted at numerous locations along the southern California coast through June. A separate event occurred in the more traditional region of Marin County in August, oscillated above and below the alert level through September, with low levels through Nov. Low levels detected as far north as Humboldt County.

Microalgae

Causative organism known: Yes
Causative Species/Genus: Alexandrium spp. ( cells/L)
Co-Ocurring Species/Genus:
Chlorophyll concentration, if known: µg/l
Additional bloom information:
Event-related bibliography:

Environmental Conditions

Weather: Turbidity (NTU): Wind direction:
Stratified water: Oxygen content (nL/L): Wind velocity:
Temperature (°C): Oxygen saturation %: Current Direction:
Sechhi disk (m): Salinity: Current Velocity: 0
Nutrient information:
Temperature Range During Event: Max: °C, Min: °C
Salinity Range During Event:
Bloom location in the water column: Whole column
Growth:
Growth Comments
Additional Environmental information:

Toxin Assay Information

Species containing the toxin Toxin type Toxin details Max. concentration Assay type
Mussels, Oysters, Crustaceans, Scallops Saxitoxins 293 ug/100 g Bioassay-Mouse
Kit used: Yes Type of kit used: Jellett: rapid extraction in t
Additional information:
Economic losses:
Management decision: Commercial shellfish harvest closures in affected areas.
Additional harmful effect information:
Updated at 03:57 on 26 Jun 2020
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