Dinos, sponges, algae, bacteria, diatoms & cyano all produce toxins and some species are quite toxic.
CIGUATERA AND OTHER MARINE BIOTOXINS
http://www.itg.be/evde/46_Marine_biotoxinsp3.htm
From it:
Gymnodinium breve (previously known as Ptychodiscus brevis) is found in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. This dinoflagellate produces at least two brevetoxins. These are fat-soluble complex molecules (polyketides). They disturb neuromuscular transmission. After being inhaled as aerosol they cause bronchial spasms. This may be manifested as an "asthma" crisis, rhinitis, sneezing, cough or burning eyes after walking on the beach while a strong breeze which splashes up water (with the toxin). This kind of aerosol is facilitated by the fact that Gymnodinium is a very fragile organism which easily breaks in the surf, releasing the endotoxins. The Alexandrium sp. in the Pacific or in the North Atlantic are much less fragile and do not cause irritation via aerosol. Brevetoxins may be present in molluscs (oysters, mussels) during an algal bloom, but are not present in fish, crabs or snails. If the toxins are absorbed in the intestine, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea occur. There then follows paresthesia around the mouth, which extends further to the throat, trunk and limbs. Ataxia, mydriasis, vertigo, breathing difficulties, headache and bradycardia may follow. As yet no deaths due to NSP have been reported. The diagnosis is clinical. There is no antidote.
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This is scary, but you have to ingest the toxin produced by diatoms usually from eating shellfish:
3.6.4 ASP
Chemical structure of domoic acid, which causes amnesic shellfish poisoning. Toxin produces by Pseudonitzschia sp. Copyright ITM
ASP is caused by domoic acid, a neurotoxic tricarboxylic amino acid structurally related to glutamic acid. It was chemically identified after its isolation in 1958 from the seaweed Chondria armata, found off the coast of Japan. In 1987, more than 100 people became ill and several people died following the consumption of blue mussels caught off Prince Edward Island, Canada. Canadian scientists found that domoic acid had entered the food chain when the mussels fed on a toxic algal bloom of the pennate diatom Pseudonitzschia pungens forma multiseries. This is therefore not a toxin of a dinoflagellate, but from diatoms. Domoic acid is known to occur at low concentrations in various red algae (in Chondria armata, Alsidium corallinum and Digenea simplex). Some bacteria which are present in molluscs may use domoic acid as substrate. Their possible role in detoxification of their host needs further research. If the concentration of domoic acid is more than 20 ppm, the seafood is unsuitable for human consumption. After eating toxic mussels, people experience an initial feeling of nausea and diarrhoea, together with hyperexcitation, followed by symptoms attributable to necrosis of certain parts of the brain such as the amygdala and parts of the hypothalamus. The cerebral lesions may be permanent. Disturbed behaviour and loss of memory, as well as involuntary facial grimaces, convulsions, coma and death may follow. Sometimes the chronic symptoms are similar to those of Alzheimer’s disease.
Thanks for any additional input.
