Conditions of nutrients and dissolved organic matter for the outbreaks of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) in Jinhae Bay, Korea

We measured the concentrations of nutrients, fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM), and photosynthetic pigments in seawater during the springs of 2018 and 2019 in Jinhae Bay, Korea. The samplings were carried out during the severe and weak outbreaks of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) in April 2018 and March 2019, respectively. The additional sampling campaigns were carried out before and after the PSP outbreak for the comparison. During the severe PSP outbreak, lower salinities, higher organic and total nutrients, and higher humic-like FDOM were observed. Although the environmental condition of April 2018 is favorable for the growth of dinoflagellates, the lowest peridinin (dinoflagellate index) and highest fucoxanthin (diatom index) concentrations were observed amongst all sampling periods. Thus, our results suggest that PSP could be more effectively produced by dinoflagellates in the course of the ecological shift by interspecific competition under the environmental condition favorable for dinoflagellates.