Influence of upwelling relaxation on dinoflagellates and shellfish toxicity in Ria de Vigo, Spain

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Abstract

Outbreaks of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) along the north-west coast of Spain have become a serious threat to the extensive mussel farming industry in that region over the last decade. During the summer, high phytoplankton productivity is supported by the sustained upwelling of nutrient-rich deep water into the rias. An episode of PSP in the autumn of 1985 in Ria de Vigo coincided with the sudden appearance, rapid numerical increase, and dominance of two chain-forming dinoflagellates, Gymnodinium catenatum and Protogonyaulax affinis. Field data suggest that warm offshore surface water was transported into the ria as the summer upwelling ceased. This occurred when winds changed from northerly (upwelling favourable) to southerly or westerly (upwelling unfavourable); the injected water contained established populations of oceanic and neritic dinoflagellates. The simultaneous appearance and dominance of two dinoflagellates that form long chains leads us to speculate that the small-scale downwelling of water within the ria favoured efficient swimmers among the phytoplankton. These data not only implicate these two species as possible sources of the PSP toxins in local mussels, but they also suggest the feasibility of developing a bloom prediction capability for some dinoflagellate species based in part on an upwelling index that can indicate when offshore surface waters might be forced into the rias.

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