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| A grouper fish (google) |
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| Microorganism dinoflagellate genus Gambierdiscus (from link below) |
Grouper is a staple fish on our local menu but just what are you eating? Yes it is a delectable white flaky fish that pairs nicely with a citrusy sauvignon blanc and a side of Ciguatera. Ciguatera?! I didn't order that! Oh don't worry it's complimentary. Well in that case... eat up. Ciguatera is a food borne illness caused by ciguatoxins. Ciguatoxins are found inside dinoflagellates more specifically genus Gambierdiscus and are released from the microorganism after being digested. The dinoflagellates can be found in a benthic habitat in warmer water regions (like ours in Florida) and stick to plants and algae where they are then eaten by marine organisms. The ciguatera then biomagnifies up the food chain until you find it on your plate and you devour every bite. The toxin does not degrade due to heat so cooking does no good against this fish poisoner. Identifying ciguatera is a difficult task which requires equipment that is not available at our beloved DSC, so as much fun as it would be to test grouper directly for the toxin, instead testing for the source will be the best data collection method. My scientific question is going to be directed at seeing if dinoflagellate can be found in some of our local environments and if an increase in ocean temperature will produce an increase in the appearance of the dinoflagellate. This could be achieved by taking samplings of plants and algae and viewing them under a microscope and identifying the dinoflagellate genus Gambierdiscus. Determining if temperature is a factor will be a bit more difficult to observer, more brainstorming required. This seems like a rather known about toxin in fish but not one that is talked about often so the findings will hopefully be interesting! Below is an informative link about ciguatera if you are looking for more knowledge on the topic now.
http://oceanbites.org/big-fish-eats-little-fish-biomagnification-of-natural-toxins-leads-to-poisoning/
Stephanie, I think your first good step would be to sample different areas of the e.g., lagoon and determine if they are even there. If so--how many(?). Then compare the locations/numbers. Location and identification would be primary in this research!
ReplyDeleteGreat subject Stephanie! Hits home as I got Ciguatera poisoning from a fresh killed tuna on one of the out islands of the Exuma's. Yea, thought I would die if I went to sleep, lol! Total sensation reversal. Strangely 4 people ate the fish and I was the only one to get sick. Anyway, it's a well known subject on those islands.
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