Rising Sea Temperature Could Increase Toxins In Edible Shellfishes
Those who are fascinated about the seafood, Preparing themselves to dine shellfish dishes with their loved ones, here is a news for them. The recent study shows that rising up sea temperature leads Shellfishes to become toxic. Consumption of Toxic shellfish directly effects on human health like memory loss, stomach problems.
An international research team from the Oregon State University conducted several experiments in the sea waters. By analyzing the last 20 years of data, researchers found a strong correlation between warm-water ocean conditions and toxic levels of Domoic acid. Pacific Decadal Oscillation and El Niño events are the main cause for the warmer water condition.
MailOnline report says that researchers not only showed the link between the larger climatic phenomena and domoic acid but also formed a new map to predict the acid level of the northwest coast of Pacific ocean.
Lead researcher of this study, Angelicque White said in a statement, “In the natural world there are always variations, and it's been difficult to connect a specific event to larger forces that operate over periods of years and decades.To do so, long observational time-series are crucial”.
Domoic Acid is a kind of Neurotoxic acid which is produced by marine algae. Rising Nitrate level of water and temperature boost up those algae blooms. People who take contaminated sea shellfishes like razor clams, crabs, often suffers DAP ( Domoic Acid Poisoning). DAP also includes diarrhea, seizures, memory loss and even in some rare cases of deaths also recorded. These reports were first published in the press release on EurekAlert.
Scientists first identified health threatening Domoic acid in 1987 and the monitoring programs were running since 1991. That time the acid level was lower than 20 PPM parts Per Million) but, in 2016 over 70 percent of 1,500 razor clams were found contaminated with Domoic acid more than 20 PPM.
Not only humans, Domoic acid is also causing mass death of sea mammals such as whales,dolphins, sea lions, sea otters. Now researchers are developing a model which will track the climate changing conditions related to Domoic acid. This model will help researchers to determine when toxic shellfish will become more prevalent and issue appropriate warnings.
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