Paralytic Shellfish Toxins in Surf Clams during a Large Bloom of Dinoflagellates Associated to an Intense Shellfish Mass Mortality.

In late February 2016, a harmful algal bloom (HAB) of was detected in southern Chiloé, leading to the banning of shellfish harvesting in an extended geographical area (~500 km). On April 24, 2016, this bloom produced a massive beaching (an accumulation on the beach surface of dead or impaired organisms which were drifted ashore) of surf clams in Cucao Bay, Chiloé. To determine the effect of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins in , samples were taken from Cucao during the third massive beaching detected on May 3, 2016.