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JOURNAL OF PLANKTON RESEARCH | VOLUME 19 | NUMBER 7 | PAGES 937-956 | 1997
© Oxford University Press

research-article

Interannual variability of PSP outbreaks on the north east UK coast

Ian Joint, Jane Lewis1, James Aiken, Roger Proctor2, Gerald Moore, Wendy Higman1 and Margaret Donald3

NERC Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences; Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place Plymouth PL1 3DH 1University of Westminster, School of Biological and Health Sciences New Cavendish Street London W1M 8JS 2NERC Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences; Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Bidston, Merseyside L43 7RA 3MAFF Torry Research Station PO Box 31,135 Abbey Road, Aberdeen AB9 8DG, UK

Received on October 23, 1996; accepted on March 13, 1997 Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) occurs sporadically on the NB UK coast. The degree of toxicity shows considerable interannual variability, but particularly severe events occurred in 1968 and 1990. The time sequence of PSP toxin production in 1990 is described and compared with 1989 when no significant PSP toxin occurred. In 1990, PSP toxin was widespread in shellfish samples taken on 300 km of coastline, from Berwick to Whitby, and toxin was present at high concentrations for >1 month. The distribution of Alerandrium tamarense cysts in the sediments is described. High concentrations were found in the Firth of Forth and also in a number of regions offshore of the Scottish and English coasts. A water transport model has been used to estimate back trajectories, with the aim of determining the source of the A.tamarense bloom. The Firth of Forth has previously been suggested as the seed bed for A.tamarense outbreaks in the area, but the transport model clearly shows that A.tanwrense moved inshore over a wide area in 1990; there was no single source of the bloom. Sea surface temperatures, estimated from satellite imagery, show that water temperatures were much higher at the end of April 1990, when the bloom occurred, than in 1989 when PSP toxin incidence was very low. These conditions would have resulted in early seasonal stratification and would have favoured phytoplankton growth in the water column.


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J. Brown, L. Fernand, K. J. Horsburgh, A. E. Hill, and J. W. Read
Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning on the East Coast of the UK in Relation to Seasonal Density-driven Circulation
J. Plankton Res., January 1, 2001; 23(1): 105 - 116.
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