{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,12]],"date-time":"2026-05-12T05:18:22Z","timestamp":1778563102432,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,10]],"date-time":"2020-08-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1597017600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry for Primary Industries","award":["405359"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["405359"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004629","name":"Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CAWX1801"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CAWX1801"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004629","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Toxins"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a heat-stable neurotoxin typically associated with pufferfish intoxications. It has also been detected in shellfish from Japan, the United Kingdom, Greece, China, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand. A recent European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) scientific opinion concluded that a level of &lt;0.044 mg TTX\/kg in marine bivalves and gastropods, based on a 400 g portion size, does not result in adverse effects in humans. There have been no reports of human illness attributed to the consumption of New Zealand shellfish containing TTX. To obtain a greater understanding of its presence, a survey of non-commercial New Zealand shellfish was performed between December 2016 and March 2018. During this period, 766 samples were analysed from 8 different species. TTX levels were found to be low and similar to those observed in shellfish from other countries, except for pipi (Paphies australis), a clam species endemic to New Zealand. All pipi analysed as part of the survey were found to contain detectable levels of TTX, and pipi from a sampling site in Hokianga Harbour contained consistently elevated levels. In contrast, no TTX was observed in cockles from this same sampling site. No recreationally harvested shellfish species, including mussels, oysters, clams and tuatua, contained TTX levels above the recommended EFSA safe guidance level. The levels observed in shellfish were considerably lower than those reported in other marine organisms known to contain TTX and cause human intoxication (e.g., pufferfish). Despite significant effort, the source of TTX in shellfish, and indeed all animals, remains unresolved making it a difficult issue to understand and manage.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins12080512","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,10]],"date-time":"2020-08-10T07:25:03Z","timestamp":1597044303000},"page":"512","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Survey of Tetrodotoxin in New Zealand Bivalve Molluscan Shellfish over a 16-Month Period"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Michael J.","family":"Boundy","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Cawthron Institute, 98 Halifax Street East, Nelson 7010, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Laura","family":"Biessy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cawthron Institute, 98 Halifax Street East, Nelson 7010, New Zealand"},{"name":"New Zealand Food Safety Science &amp; Research Centre, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Brian","family":"Roughan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ministry for Primary Industries\u2013Manat\u016b Ahu Matua, PO Box 2526, Wellington 6140, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jeane","family":"Nicolas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ministry for Primary Industries\u2013Manat\u016b Ahu Matua, PO Box 2526, Wellington 6140, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7222-5979","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"D. Tim","family":"Harwood","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cawthron Institute, 98 Halifax Street East, Nelson 7010, New Zealand"},{"name":"New Zealand Food Safety Science &amp; Research Centre, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"11","article-title":"Distribution and origin of tetrodotoxin","volume":"20","author":"Miyazawa","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Toxicol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"220","DOI":"10.3390\/md20080011","article-title":"Tetrodotoxin\u2014Distribution and accumulation in aquatic organisms, and cases of human intoxication","volume":"6","author":"Noguchi","year":"2008","journal-title":"Mar. Drugs"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"693","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins6020693","article-title":"Tetrodotoxin: Chemistry, toxicity, source, distribution and detection","volume":"6","author":"Bane","year":"2014","journal-title":"Toxins"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3468","DOI":"10.1128\/aem.61.9.3468-3470.1995","article-title":"Re-examination of tetrodotoxin production by bacteria","volume":"61","author":"Matsumura","year":"1995","journal-title":"Appl. Environ. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Strand, M., Hedstr\u00f6m, M., Seth, H., McEvoy, E.G., Jacobsson, E., G\u00f6ransson, U., Andersson, H.S., and Sundberg, P. (2016). The bacterial (Vibrio alginolyticus) production of tetrodotoxin in the ribbon worm Lineus longissimus\u2014Just a false positive?. Mar. Drugs, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/md14040063"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"124404","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chemosphere.2019.124404","article-title":"Tetrodotoxin in marine bivalves and edible gastropods: A mini-review","volume":"236","author":"Biessy","year":"2019","journal-title":"Chemosphere"},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"4752","article-title":"Risks for public health related to the presence of tetrodotoxin (TTX) and TTX analogues in marine bivalves and gastropods","volume":"15","author":"Knutsen","year":"2017","journal-title":"EFSA J."},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"Tani, I. (1945). A Study of the Toxicity of Japanese Fugu, Teikoku Tosho Co."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.2131\/jts.9.SupplementI_1","article-title":"Toxicological studies on puffer fishes: Comparison of toxicities in the various species","volume":"9","author":"Endo","year":"1984","journal-title":"J. Toxicol. Sci."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rodrigues, S.M., Pinto, E.P., Oliveira, P., Pedro, S., and Costa, P.R. (2019). Evaluation of the occurrence of tetrodotoxin in bivalve mollusks from the Portuguese coast. J. Mar. Sci. Eng., 7.","DOI":"10.3390\/jmse7070232"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"81","DOI":"10.3390\/md16030081","article-title":"Preliminary results on the evaluation of the occurrence of tetrodotoxin associated to marine Vibrio spp. in bivalves from the Galician rias (northwest of Spain)","volume":"16","year":"2018","journal-title":"Mar. Drugs"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Blanco, L., Lago, J., Gonz\u00e1lez, V., Paz, B., Rambla-Alegre, M., and Cabado, A.G. (2019). Occurrence of tetrodotoxin in bivalves and gastropods from harvesting areas and other natural spaces in Spain. Toxins, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins11060331"},{"key":"ref_13","first-page":"401","article-title":"Alexandrium tamarense as a source of tetrodotoxin in the scallop Patinopecten yessoensis","volume":"Volume 3","author":"Smayda","year":"1993","journal-title":"Toxic Phytoplankton Blooms in the Sea"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"325","DOI":"10.5740\/jaoacint.SGEMcNabb","article-title":"First detection of tetrodotoxin in the bivalve Paphies australis by liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole mass spectrometry with and without pre-column reaction","volume":"97","author":"McNabb","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. AOAC Int."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Biessy, L., Smith, K.F., Boundy, M.J., Webb, S.C., Hawes, I., and Wood, S.A. (2018). Distribution of tetrodotoxin in the New Zealand clam, Paphies australis, established using immunohistochemistry and liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry. Toxins, 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins10070282"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100008","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxcx.2019.100008","article-title":"Spatial variability and depuration of tetrodotoxin in the bivalve Paphies australis from New Zealand","volume":"2","author":"Biessy","year":"2019","journal-title":"Toxicon X"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1779","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins7051779","article-title":"First Detection of tetrodotoxin in Greek shellfish by UPLC-MS\/MS potentially linked to the presence of the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum","volume":"7","author":"Vlamis","year":"2015","journal-title":"Toxins"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"21009","DOI":"10.2807\/1560-7917.ES2015.20.2.21009","article-title":"Detection of the pufferfish toxin tetrodotoxin in European bivalves, England, 2013 to 2014","volume":"20","author":"Turner","year":"2015","journal-title":"Eurosurveillance"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Turner, A.D., Dhanji-Rapkova, M., Coates, L., Bickerstaff, L., Milligan, S., O\u2019Neill, A., Faulkner, D., McEneny, H., Baker-Austin, C., and Lees, D.N. (2017). Detection of tetrodotoxin shellfish poisoning (TSP) toxins and causative factors in bivalve molluscs from the UK. Mar. Drugs, 15.","DOI":"10.3390\/md15090277"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gerssen, A., Bovee, T., Klijnstra, M., Poelman, M., Portier, L., and Hoogenboom, R. (2018). First report on the occurrence of tetrodotoxins in bivalve mollusks in the Netherlands. Toxins, 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins10110450"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3129","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jafc.5b00045","article-title":"Immunoaffinity chromatography purification and ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry determination of tetrodotoxin in marine organisms","volume":"63","author":"Zhang","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Agric. Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"380","DOI":"10.2112\/SI83-063.1","article-title":"Analysis and evaluation of tetrodotoxin in coastal aquatic products of Zhejiang Province","volume":"83","author":"Han","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Coast. Res."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1103","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2011.11.081","article-title":"Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method to detect tetrodotoxin and Its analogues in the puffer fish Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) from European waters","volume":"132","author":"Rodriguez","year":"2012","journal-title":"Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Finch, S.C., Boundy, M.J., and Harwood, D.T. (2018). The acute toxicity of tetrodotoxin and tetrodotoxin(-)saxitoxin mixtures to mice by various routes of administration. Toxins, 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins10110423"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2520","DOI":"10.1271\/bbb.66.2520","article-title":"Mutual binding inhibition of tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin to their binding protein from the plasma of the puffer fish, Fugu pardalis","volume":"66","author":"Shoji","year":"2002","journal-title":"Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"753","DOI":"10.1016\/S0041-0101(01)00278-1","article-title":"A tetrodotoxin-binding protein in the hemolymph of shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus: Purification and properties","volume":"40","author":"Nagashima","year":"2002","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"466","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2010.04.017","article-title":"Detection of tetrodotoxin from the grey sided-gilled sea slug\u2014Pleurobranchaea maculata, and associated dog neurotoxicosis on beaches adjacent to the Hauraki Gulf, Auckland, New Zealand","volume":"56","author":"McNabb","year":"2010","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"23","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2014.12.006","article-title":"First identification of tetrodotoxin (TTX) in the flatworm Stylochoplana sp.; a source of TTX for the sea slug Pleurobranchaea maculata","volume":"95","author":"Salvitti","year":"2015","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"769","DOI":"10.2331\/fishsci.60.769","article-title":"Occurrence of 11-oxotetrodotoxin and 11-nortetrodotoxin-6 (R)-ol in a xanthid crab Atergatis floridus collected at Kojima, Ishigaki Island","volume":"60","author":"Arakawa","year":"1994","journal-title":"Fish. Sci."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"163","DOI":"10.3390\/md10010163","article-title":"Tetrodotoxin concentrations in Pleurobranchaea maculata: Temporal, spatial and individual variability from New Zealand populations","volume":"10","author":"Wood","year":"2012","journal-title":"Mar. Drugs"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chroma.2015.01.086","article-title":"Development of a sensitive and selective liquid chromatography\u2014Mass spectrometry method for high throughput analysis of paralytic shellfish toxins using graphitised carbon solid phase extraction","volume":"1387","author":"Boundy","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Chromatogr. A"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"609","DOI":"10.5740\/jaoacint.14-275","article-title":"Single laboratory validation of a multi-toxin UPLC-HILIC-MS\/MS method for quantitation of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins in bivalve shellfish","volume":"98","author":"Turner","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. AOAC Int."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1469","DOI":"10.5740\/jaoacint.17-0017","article-title":"Development and single-laboratory validation of a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for quantitation of tetrodotoxin in mussels and oysters","volume":"100","author":"Turner","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. AOAC Int."}],"container-title":["Toxins"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-6651\/12\/8\/512\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T09:58:35Z","timestamp":1760176715000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-6651\/12\/8\/512"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,10]]},"references-count":33,"journal-issue":{"issue":"8","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,8]]}},"alternative-id":["toxins12080512"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/toxins12080512","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-6651"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-6651","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,10]]}}}