Toxic cyanobacteria in Greek freshwaters

Abstract

Cyanobacterial scums, collected in 1987 from four Greek freshwater lakes, were examined for their toxicity to mice. Species of Microcystis, Oscillatoria, Anabaenopsis, and Anabaena were dominant in the samples. All samples tested had toxic effects on mice after intraperitoneal injection. The lethal dose (LD50) ranged from 40 to 1500 mg cyanobacterial dry weight kg-1 body weight and gross pathological signs of poisoning were characteristic of cyanobacterial hepatotoxins. The toxicities of the Greek cyanobacterial blooms were similar to those reported for blooms elsewhere in the world, shown to be responsible for the poisoning of wild and domestic animals. © 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers.