Beginning in 2014, Solid Phase Absorption Toxin Tracking (SPATT, Figure 1) disks were hung from docks at many sites around Puget Sound through the SoundToxins partnership (www.soundtoxins.org), including the Friday Harbor Labs in collaboration with Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria and volunteers in his lab. During the week-long deployment of SPATT disks in the water, dissolved toxins attach to the material contained in the disks. Extraction of SPATT resin in methanol and analysis by liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy has allowed us to assess the types and concentrations of azaspiracids in Puget Sound. To date, the azaspiracids that are monitored in Europe have not been detected. However, a new toxin named azaspiracid-59 (AZA-59) has been discovered in both SPATT and in shellfish.
That said, concentrations of AZA-59 in Puget Sound shellfish are well below the European Union’s regulatory threshold.
Fig. 2: Light and scanning electron microscope images of an azaspiracid-producing dinoflagellate, Azadinium spinosum. Photo credit: Dr. Urban Tillmann, Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany.