Name: Lexus Patterson

Course: ​BIOL-1615-1616-Sp18-Mohamed

4-10-18

Title: COYOTE (CANIS LATRANS) AND DOMESTIC DOG (CANIS FAMILIARIS)

MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY DUE TO A KARENIA BREVIS RED TIDE IN THE GULF

OF MEXICO

In this article there is an organism called dinoflagellate Karenia brevis that is responsible

for “red tides” in Mexico, Florida and Texas that produces potent neurotoxins called brevetoxins

that cause the deaths of millions of marine animals, such as, fish, birds, turtles, as well as

mammals in the gulf of Mexico. The first major event of fish deaths was in 1935 in Texas. In

November of 2009 there were reports of sick or dead coyotes and domestic dogs, they believe

this was caused by the animals eating the fish that were killed by the red tide. The aim of this

study is to see if it is true that the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis is the cause of the mammals

deaths.

The carcasses of 10 of the dead mammals were frozen and submitted to the Colorado

State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Fort Collins, Colorado to have routine

necropsy, histopathology, and ancillary diagnostics done. Possible causes of neurologic and

gastrointestinal issues were found in the animals that were investigated prior to death, this

included testing for for diseases, toxins and heavy metals. 250 mL of water and sand were

collected and put into glass jars and were shipped to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commissions Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida for analysis. Candid

tissues, sand, whole fish and seawater were extracted for brevetoxins, these were quantified

using a competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The results showed that the presence

of brevetoxins in candid tissues and fluids were confirmed using ultraperformance liquid

chromatography.

The tested tissue and body fluids of the dog and 9 of the 10 coyotes detected brevetoxins.

The one coyote that did not have brevetoxins and was tested negative was killed by vehicular

collision. The highest concentrations of brevetoxins was found in the liver, the maximum was

found in the domestic dog. Levels of brevetoxins found in the lungs of two of the three coyotes

tested from 2009-2011 were low.

They believed that brevetoxins from ingesting the dead and toxic fish was the likely

cause of the coyote and the domestic dog. Their analyses presented that one dead fish could

provide a dose of the toxin in excess of 300 mg PbTx-3 eq. The LC-MS/MS analyses of the dead

fish confirmed that a significant amount of PbTx-3 was present. Brevetoxic fish that were

vectored to higher trophic levels have shown to be a significant source of the lethal exposure to

brevetoxins, particularly in marine mammals. One other potential toxin source is sea foam.

Coyotes could have also inhaled the brevetoxins during the bloom, but it is not believed to have

caused the mortalities.