Concentrations of Saxitoxin and Tetrodotoxin in Three Species of Puffers from the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, the Location for Multiple Cases of Saxitoxin Puffer Poisoning from 2002 to 2004

In response to multiple, unexpected cases of saxitoxin poisoning that started in January 2002, southern puffers Sphoeroides nephelus, checkered puffers S. testudineus, and bandtail puffers S. spengleri were collected from April to August 2002 from several locations in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Florida. Fish were analyzed for saxitoxin (STX) and tetrodotoxin (TTX) content in muscle, liver, and gonad tissues by means of the liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry method in multiple reactions monitoring mode. Spatial, species, and tissue-specific differences in toxin content and composition were found among these puffer species in the IRL. Southern puffers from the northern IRL had the highest concentrations of STX, muscle being the most contaminated tissue (1,770 +/- 159 mu g/100 g tissue [mean +/- SD]; n = 3). Southern puffers from the Banana River and central IRL had lower amounts of STX in all tissues tested. Nearly all southern puffer tissues tested had only trace amounts of TTX. Both checkered and bandtail puffers from the central and southern IRL had higher concentrations of TTX than of STX in all tissues, checkered puffer livers being the most toxic (6,075 +/- 3,283 mu g/100 g tissue; n = 3). For comparison, U.S. mid-Atlantic northern puffers S. maculatus (n = 10) were tested and found to contain no detectable amounts of STX or TTX. This research confirms that STX and not TTX was responsible for 28 poisoning cases in southern puffers from the northern IRL between 2002 and 2004, and it describes for the first time the relative distribution of STX and TTX in U.S. East Coast puffers.