Toxin Produced by Algae Blamed for Alaska Seal Deaths
For the first time, scientists have made a definite link between the toxin produced by algae that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning and marine mammal deaths.
Fur seals found dead last August on Alaska's St. Paul Island had significant levels of saxitoxin in their bodies, as did several of the dead fish around them.
It was the clearest evidence ever found for this type of toxin-caused death, scientists say.
“I would say this is the absolute strongest case for saxitoxin poisoning in marine mammals anywhere," said...
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