Co-occurrence of white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, mortalities and microcystin toxin in a southeastern USA shrimp facility

Various freshwater and marine algal toxins are known to affect plants, fishes, mammals, and invertebrates. During recent mortality events in Texas white shrimp aquaculture ponds, water and shrimp tissue samples were analyzed for cyanobacterial toxins and found to contain microcystin-LR. Cyanoprokaryota dominated the phytoplankton assemblage in water from the affected pond, particularly Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabaena sp. Water samples from the affected pond also contained high levels of microcystin-LR (45 μg/l), whereas adjacent ponds had a diatom-green algal assemblage and no measurable toxin. Unialgal isolates of M. aeruginosa from the affected pond produced microcystin-LR. Free microcystin-LR concentrations in dead shrimp hepatopancreas determined by HPLC were 55 μg/g total shrimp weight, whereas shrimp hepatopancreas from the adjacent pond without shrimp mortalities had no measurable toxin. Muscle toxin concentration was below 0.1 μg/g.