It is critical to determine the number and identity of toxic dinoflagellate species along the eastern seaboard. Different species of toxic dinoflagellates can produce very different toxic compounds each of which pose different threats to natural resources and public health. The toxins from each dinoflagellate species associated with areas known to have ulcerated fish need to be purified. These toxins can then be studied in a laboratory setting using mammalian models to determine cause - effect relationships and what dose causes the effects. We need to do the same studies with marine animals to determine lethal effects and susceptibility to disease.
Fish kill events and the presence of fish with ulcers signal a stressed environment.
What is causing these events, including the water quality conditions that lead up to the event, needs to be determined. An expert medical team in Maryland says yes for Maryland waters because of their latest findings. Again, common sense says Maybe, but this cannot be confirmed until we know the organisms responsible, their distribution, their toxins, and the specific effects of those toxins. State University professor Dr. JoAnn Burkholder described and named Pfiesteria piscicida based on specimens originally isolated from North Carolina. FDEP scientists Drs.