Production of paralytic shellfish toxins by the dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum halim from Australia

paralytic shellfish toxin production by mouse bioassay.1) The organism was first described from a red tide in Alexandria Harbour, Egypt2) and a recent reinvestiga tion of material from this sammmmme locality3) has demonstrated the synonymity of Alexandrium Halim and Protogonyaulax Toylor,4) which includes paralytic shellfish toxin producing species of the so-called tamarensis group. However, the precise chemical composition of the toxin produced by this dinoflagel late is still unknown. In the present study, toxins in dinoflagellate as well as mussels contaminated by the organism were analyzed by a high preformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method which has been specially developed for paralytic shellfish toxins.5)