Humans increasingly poisoned by reef fish

The poison originates in particular dinoflagellates (any of numerous minute, chiefly marine protozoans) which grow on, or in the vicinity of sea weeds that are replacing coral reefs across the Pacific as the corals are stressed by human impacts including increased nutrients from land and ocean warming.




Consumed initially by small herbivorous fish and invertebrates, the toxin then works its way up the marine food chain, making big predatory reef fish the most risky for humans to eat.