Mutation in clams protects against paralytic shellfish poisoning but raises human health risk
Just like people, clams can be affected by the toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), but scientists have now identified a mutation in clams that gives some protection. PSP toxins interfere with nerve function, and the mutation, which changes a single amino acid in a sodium channel, makes nerves less sensitive to those toxins. The discovery is reported in the April 7 issue...Research Reveals Functions Of Harmful Shellfish Pathogens
Providing safer shellfish is the goal of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists who are studying the means by which pathogenic bacteria enter shellfish. In the United States, two pathogenic bacteria from the genus Vibrio are of concern: V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus. These bacteria are naturally found in shellfish and seawater, particularly when water temperatures are warm,...Overfishing large sharks impacts entire marine ecosystem, shrinks shellfish supply
Fewer big sharks in the oceans mean that bay scallops and other shellfish may be harder to find at the market, according to an article in the March 30 issue of the journal Science, tying two unlikely links in the food web to the same fate. A team of Canadian and American ecologists, led by world-renowned fisheries biologist Ransom Myers at Dalhousie University, has found that overfishing...Warning on Eating Shellfish Stepped Up
Continued reports of illness caused by eating raw shellfish have made the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue a warning today against eating raw shellfish. Reports coming// in show that oysters and clams raised in the Pacific Northwest have made people sick across the country. Till date there have been about 200 reported cases of people coming down with gastroenteritis after eating raw s...