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Review
. 2020 Jan 15;12(1):50.
doi: 10.3390/toxins12010050.

Ciguatera Fish Poisoning: The Risk from an Aotearoa/New Zealand Perspective

Lesley L Rhodes  1 , Kirsty F Smith  1 , J Sam Murray  1 , Tomohiro Nishimura  1 , Sarah C Finch  2
Affiliations
Review

Ciguatera Fish Poisoning: The Risk from an Aotearoa/New Zealand Perspective

Lesley L Rhodes et al. Toxins (Basel). .

Abstract

Gambierdiscus and Fukuyoa species have been identified in Aotearoa/New Zealand's coastal waters and G.polynesiensis, a known producer of ciguatoxins, has been isolated from Rangitāhua/Kermadec Islands (a New Zealand territory). The warming of the Tasman Sea and the waters around New Zealand's northern subtropical coastline heighten the risk of Gambierdiscus proliferating in New Zealand. If this occurs, the risk of ciguatera fish poisoning due to consumption of locally caught fish will increase. Research, including the development and testing of sampling methods, molecular assays, and chemical and toxicity tests, will continue. Reliable monitoring strategies are important to manage and mitigate the risk posed by this emerging threat. The research approaches that have been made, many of which will continue, are summarised in this review.

Keywords: Aotearoa; Fukuyoa; Gambierdiscus; Kermadec Islands; New Zealand; Rangitāhua; ciguatera fish poisoning; ciguatoxins; maitotoxins.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of Pacific region showing the geographic distribution of Gambierdiscus species. (Modification of Figure 3, Rhodes et al. 2017 [28], 2017 Harmful Algae News).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary of the geographic distribution of the genera Gambierdiscus and Fukuyoa in coastal areas of Rangitāhua/Kermadec Islands and Aotearoa/New Zealand. The numbers in each pie chart indicate the number of strains identified by DNA sequencing. The letters in each circle indicate other detection methods (q: quantitative PCR; m: light microscopy). Colours represent Gambierdiscus and Fukuyoa species (red: G. australes; green: G. honu; yellow: G. polynesiensis; brown: G. pacificus; blue F. paulensis; grey: G. cf. toxicus).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Chemical structures of 44-methylgambierone, previously reported as maitotoxin-3 (copied from Murray et al., 2019 [73]). There are two distinct structural types in the P-CTX class: Type I (P-CTX-4A) and Type II (P-CTX-3C). Both contain a 13-ring (A–M) backbone, with the main differences being the aliphatic hydrocarbon chain on C1 (A-ring) for Type I, and the size of the E-ring (seven-membered for Type I and eight-membered for Type II). (b) Chemical structure of maitotoxin-1 (MTX-1: adapted from Murata et al. 1993 [71].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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