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Abstract CIGUATERA FISH POISONING IN THE CARIBBEAN Patricia Tester1, Maria Faust2
and Wayne Litaker1 Tropical dinoflagellates of the genus Gambierdiscus are
known to produce toxins that cause ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP).
Humans are susceptible to CFP through food web concentration of
toxins found in contaminated reef fish. CFP is the most commonly
reported marine toxin related illness and can be fatal. CFP occurs
circumtropically and it is endemic in the Caribbean region. Annually
3% of the population of the US Virgin Islands and 4.4% of the households
surveyed in St. Thomas are affected while 7% of the residents of
Puerto Rico have experienced at least one episode of CFP in their
lifetime. While CFP is a threat to public health throughout the
Caribbean, it is generally managed by local, traditional knowledge
of the native fishers of the seasonality of occurrence and locations
of local reefs known to be ciguateric. Also, the custom, some times
formalized and sometimes not, of avoiding large, top predators like
barracuda factors into the management of CFP. With increasing ocean
temperatures the validity of local and traditional knowledge may
fail to provide adequate guidance and increase the potential for
CFP. A goal of our research is to develop quick, reliable, economical,
and quantitative method of detecting Gambierdiscus, in
natural assemblages. Comparative distribution and abundance data
from the Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems field station at Carrie
Bow Cay, Belize and a CFP “hot spot” in the eastern
Caribbean will be presented.
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