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


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

Introduction

In the Gulf of Mexico, there have been occurrences of an algae bloom, also called a

Red Tide. In these particular blooms, dinoflagellate Karenia brevis, is what has been growing

and causing damage to local aquatic life. This has caused the millions of deaths of fish and

various other animals, such as sea turtles and birds. These Red Tides have been studied before,

and these blooms of algae are particularly toxic and harmful.

Scientists from the National Parks Service, and similar groups, began to research more

into this when there had been multiple reports of dead mammals along the Texas coast. Scientists

in Texas believed that the dead animals on the coast could be linked to the bloom. Algae blooms

generally can be harmful to animals, as well as humans. Other studies were being conducted on

blooms of this nature because of the growth of microorganisms, as well as their interaction with

other organisms. The researchers wanted to investigate and determine the potentially lethal

route of exposure of terrestrial wildlife to brevetoxins (Castle, 2013, pg. 956)

They researched this to see if there had been a link between the Red Tide of Karenia

brevis, also called K. brevis, and the dead animals on the coast. By studying this, scientists found

the first confirmed report of terrestrial mammalian wildlife mortalities related to a K. brevis

bloom. (Castle, 2013, pg. 955)

Because of the work done by the National Parks Service, there is more research into these

blooms, so now others can study why they occur and how to protect people and other organisms

from them. By studying them, they can know what these blooms will do and in turn, scientists
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can help make the Gulf of Mexico safer for wildlife, and safer for anyone or anything that will

interact or come in contact with the wildlife that is being affected by the blooms.

Materials and Methods

In order to obtain information on the algae, scientists gathered samples of the Red Tide

blooms, and they also used information on the dead coyotes and dogs from the veterinaries that

they were sent to. They checked to see if these animals had any infections or diseases prior to

coming in contact with the Red Tide bloom. Recently killed fish were also studied from a variety

of location along the coast. Sand and water sample were also taken from these sites. Studying the

effects of the bloom was done by using different tissue and liquid samples.

In terms of techniques that were used in gathering the data, the scientists used Liquid

Chromatography to study the Presence of brevetox- ins in canid tissues and fluids (Castle,

2013, pg. 956). They also monitored the toxins with a six-point system of calibration using a

mixture of the brevetoxins.

Results

The data that was found from the results of the tests indicated that the brevetoxins from

the bloom were found in the bodily fluids as well as the tissues of almost all to the dead coyotes

and dog. These toxins were most often found in the liver of these animals. They also found that

multiple of the coyotes and dogs tested, there was a notable rise in mercury levels in their

kidneys, as well as their liver. In the samples of sand that they tested, in every sample, they found
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strong concentrations of the brevetoxin. This helps to show how potent invasive the blooms were

on that environment.

Much of the data that was observed by the scientist and the National Park Service was

closely aligned to what they had expected based on their hypothesis, although they found it

surprising that the samples of the sand from the various beach locations had a strong

concentration, where as the water samples had a notably weak concentration.

Discussion

After reviewing the results, the scientists believed that the brevetoxins were the likely

cause of death of the coyotes and the dog. This was due to the intake of fish that had become

toxic due to contact with the Red Tide algae bloom. The fish that had been studied typically had

enough toxins to be considered to contain a lethal dose for a human, which would be considered

more than enough to deadly to an animal of that size.

Because they did not have an extensive selection of dead animals, they were unable to

make any further investigation into the natural effect of the brevetoxins on other animals. Further

research would be necessary for the scientists to be able to come to a more firm conclusion. In

the future, scientist would hope to be able to study the effects of a toxin of this nature, without

having to put any animals at risk.

Despite this being a fairly successful study, it did face some limitations. Some of the

potential limitations are that they did not have very many animals to study. Another hinderance is

that the Red Tide only occurs so often, so they are not able to study it at all times. Studying more
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animals, and a bigger population of potentially effected animals would make their finding more

concrete.
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Bibliography
Castle, K. T., Flewelling, L. J., Bryan, J., Kramer, A., Lindsay, J., Nevada, C., . . . Landsberg, J.
H. (2013). Coyote (Canis Latrans) And Domestic Dog (Canis Familiaris) Mortality And
Morbidity Due To A Karenia Brevis Red Tide In The Gulf Of Mexico. Journal of Wildlife
Diseases, 49(4), 955-964. doi:10.7589/2012-11-299

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