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Did algal toxins cause monk seal mortality?

1998; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 393; Issue: 6680 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/29906

1476-4687

Mauro Hernández, Ian Robinson, Àlex Aguilar, Luis Mariano González, Luis Felipe López‐Jurado, Marı́a Isabel Reyero, Emiliano Cacho, José M. Franco, Victoria López‐Rodas, Eduardo Costas,

Bacteriophages and microbial interactions

The population of Mediterranean monk seals off the coast of the western Sahara has recently suffered a sudden mortality. A morbillivirus was isolated post-mortem from the tissues of three seals1, and it has been proposed that the virus was the agent responsible. This conclusion is called into question by epidemiological, clinical, pathological and toxicological considerations. We suggest here that intoxication by algal toxins is a more likely cause of the deaths.