LA TIMES : NEUROTIN IS POISONING LARGE NUMBERS OF SEA LIONS - CALIFORNIA COAST
Excerpt: "The levels we're finding inside these animals is off the charts," said Giancarlo Rulli, a spokesman for the Sausalito - based Marine Mammal Center. "It's all hands on deck."
Domoic acid is a neurotoxin released by Pseudo-nitzschia, a common phytoplankton species found in coast waters. Sea lions - and other marine mammals - become poisoned when they eat large amounts of fish or invertebrates that have been chowing on the contaminated diatoms.
Symptoms include lethargy, vomiting, unusual behavior, seizures, loss of pregnancy, and death.
Excerpt: Raphe Kudela, a professor of ocean science at UC Santa Cruz, said there might also be a connection to heat and runoff from inland rivers.
He said in the last few years, really wet winters have contributed to an increase in river runoff - and a resulting dump of nutrients into California's coastal waters.
"So you get a pulse of upwelling, which brought some cool water with even more nutrients to the surface, and then everything warmed up. That's just absolutely perfect conditions for a bloom like this," he said.
It's also a perfect recipe for creatures like sardines and anchovies, who feast of the diatoms, algae and phytoplankton in these cool, nutrient-rich waters. And those fish bring in predators, such as sea lions, dolphins, fur seals, bords and other fish that then proceed to feast on these "toxic bullets."
