Effects of Environmental and Water Quality Variables on Histamine-Producing Bacteria Concentration and Species in the Northern Gulf of Mexico.

Scombrotoxin (histamine) fish poisoning is a common seafood-borne illness attributed to toxin production by histamine-producing bacteria (HPB) in fish tissues during decomposition. In laboratory studies, growth of HPB and other bacterial species is affected by physical and chemical attributes, but natural communities of HPB are not well understood. To determine how environmental and water quality variables may affect density of HPB in the natural aquatic environment, we compared presence and abundance of HPB to ambient temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, fecal coliforms, male-specific coliphage, nutrient concentrations, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios, and C:N in water samples collected from July 2017 to February 2018 along a natural salinity gradient in a tidal river on the coast of northern Gulf of Mexico.