Occurrence of paralytic toxin in Taiwanese crab Atergatopsis germaini

Paralytic toxicity was detected by paralytic shellfish poison bioassay for all 17 specimens of the xanthid crab A. germaini collected from northern Taiwan in November 1993. The average toxicity of crab specimens was 3809 +/- 2591 mouse units (mean +/- S.D.). The toxin was partially purified from ethanolic extract of the crab by ultrafiltration and Bio-Gel P-2 column chromatography. Electrophoresis, TLC, HPLC, ultraviolet spectrum and GC-MS analyses indicated that the crab toxin was composed of gonyautoxin 3 (50%), neosaxitoxin and saxitoxin (7%), a novel paralytic shellfish poison-like toxin (40%) and tetrodotoxin (3%).