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Cyanotoxin bioaccumulation in freshwater fish, Washington State, USA

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Abstract

Until recently, exposure pathways of concern for cyanotoxins have focused on recreational exposure, drinking water, and dermal contact. Exposure to cyanotoxins through fish consumption is a relatively new area of investigation. To address this concern, microcystins and other cyanotoxins were analyzed in fish collected from nine Washington lakes with recurrent toxic blooms using two types of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Microcystins or microcystin-like compounds were elevated in fish liver relative to muscle and other tissues (liver > gut > muscle). Microcystin concentrations in fish fillet samples using anti-Adda ELISA (range 6.3–11 μg/kg wet weight) were consistently higher in all fish species than concentrations using anti-microcystin (MC)-leucine-arginine (LR) ELISA (range 0.25–2.4 μg/kg wet weight). MC-leucine-alanine (LA) was the only variant detected in fish (2.5–12 μg/kg in four livers) among the nine variants analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Fish fillets showed no accumulation of the MCs targeted by LC-MS/MS. Other cyanotoxins analyzed (anatoxin-a, saxitoxin, domoic acid, and okadaic acid) were not detected in fish. Based on this and evidence from other studies, we believe that people can safely consume two 8-oz fish fillet meals per week from lakes with blooms producing MCs (clean the fish and discard viscera).

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Acknowledgments

Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) funded this work under the Environmental Assessment Program and Water Quality Program (Lizbeth Seebacher). We would like to thank Randy Coots and Michael Friese, Ecology, John Berry, Florida International University, and Gail Cho and Patricia Bucknell, California Department of Fish and Game, for their work on the original report. Jim Buckley, Francis Sweeney, and Gabriela Hannach of King County Environmental Laboratory (KCEL) conducted ELISA analyses and provided advice. Robert Arnold, Adam Couto, Richard Eltrich, Thom Johnson, Larry Phillips, Scott Meechan, and Ecology staff provided fish samples for the project and we thank them.

The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views or policies of the Washington State Department of Health.

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  1. Washington State Department of Health, PO Box 47846, Olympia, WA, 98504-7846, USA

    F. Joan Hardy

  2. Washington State Department of Ecology, PO Box 47600, Olympia, WA, 98504-7600, USA

    Art Johnson & Kathy Hamel

  3. Washington State University, School of the Environment, PO Box 646410, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA

    Ellen Preece

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  1. F. Joan Hardy
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Hardy, F.J., Johnson, A., Hamel, K. et al. Cyanotoxin bioaccumulation in freshwater fish, Washington State, USA. Environ Monit Assess 187, 667 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4875-x

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