a Department of Marine Food Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan R.O.C.
b Horn Point Environmental Laboratory, University of Maryland, Cambridge, MD 21613, U.S.A.
Abstract:
Paralytic toxicity was detected by tetrodotoxin (TTX) bioassay in all 15 specimens of the xanthid crab Lophozozymus pictor collected from northern Taiwan in 1993. The average toxicity of crab specimens was 921 ± 231 (mean ± S.E.) mouse units. The toxin of crab was partially purified and then identified. It was found that the crab toxin contained TTX and gonyautoxin. The ratio of TTX to gonyautoxin for crab toxin was about 9:1.