TIMES RECORD • November 12, 2020
With changes in the climate, the warmer part of the year has crept later and later. This means that the conditions favorable for the growth of living things that we haven’t seen here before. A nasty one has caused concern to local managers. Pseudo-nitzchiahas only been spotted in the area over the last five or so years. It is a family of tiny marine plankton called diatoms, which are single-celled organisms that photosynthesize inside a tiny glass-like greenhouse made of silica. Shellfish are filter feeders and gulp in large quantities of these tiny creatures, concentrating them in their tissues. That’s when it becomes a problem for a person eating those shellfish. Pseudo-nitzchia produces an acid called domoic acid that can cause amnesic shellfish poisoning. ~ Susan Olcott