Toxin and toxicity identification of mangrove horseshoe crab Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda collected from South China.

The presence of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP), tetrodotoxin (TTX) and its analogues (11-oxoTTX, 4.9-anhydro-11-oxoTTX, 4.9-anhydroTTX, 5-deoxyTTX, 5.11-dideoxyTTX, 5.6.11-trideoxyTTX and 4.9-anhydro-5.6.11-trideoxy TTX) were initially investigated in Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda collected from south China with Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS–MS) and mouse bioassay. The TTX toxicity was 10.8 ± 3.9 MU/g muscle, 6.3 ± 0.6 MU/g viscera and 6.3 ± 0.6 MU/g eggs in mean value. Merely dcGTX2 and dcSTX were detected in ten Specimens, ranging from 0.01 to 0.77 μg/g. Analyses suggested that these Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda contain TTX and its analogues as the major toxin and PSPs as the minor, respectively. Besides, no DSPs were found.