Frequent occurrence of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins as dominant toxins in marine puffer from tropical water

Considerably high toxicity was detected in marine puffers collected from Masinloc Bay, Philippines. The toxicity was detected in the liver, intestine, muscle and skin. Noteworthy, the specimens, the muscle of which showed high toxicity, appeared in high frequency, indicating that puffers from this area is not safe for human consumption. These puffer specimens contained paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins, often as major toxin components, the profile of which was similar to that of freshwater puffers reported from tropical areas. These results indicate that PSP toxins are common in tropical puffers both from marine and freshwater. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.