Killer Algae

Worldwide there are more than 115.000 known species of algae 200 of them are extremely toxic! During algal bloom large sea areas of many square kilometres are contaminated by their neurotoxic substances. The consequence: millions of fish die and are flushed on to the beaches. The toxins are also absorbed by mussels and this way can enter the food chain of human beings. After eating contaminated mussels food poisoning, permanent loss of memory or death by apnoea can occur, depending on the kind and amount of neurotoxic substance. In 1995 eight guests of a restaurant in Amsterdam were hospitalized after eating mussels all had eaten from mussels that had come from a small breeding farm in Killary Fjord, in the west of Ireland. Even so the mussels have been intensely examined in a lab, it took more than ten years until scientists could detect the reason for the food poisoning. They discovered a new toxic species of algae. During a shipping expedition German and Irish researchers will investigate how the new pol