Domoic acid is a new toxin found along the West Coast of the United States and Canada. The first time domoic acid poisoning was noted was in Prince Edward Island in 1987, when shellfish were consumed. Three people have died and more than 100 people have shown symptoms of the toxin. Then the birds started dying because they had eaten the anchovies, and the anchovies had the toxin in them. Then, after the fish, the sea lions also began to die because they ate the fish. The toxin begins to travel through the food chain. Another name for domoic acid is “Red Tide”. Toxic algae poison marine mammals causing brain seizures, strandings and large amounts of deaths. To prevent this from happening, scientists can find a cure to prevent further deaths. Pseudo-nitzschia (SUE-doh NICH-e-yah) is a fraction of the thickness of a human hair, a single-celled organism glides through seawater on a layer of mucus. and mixes with domoic acid, a neurotoxin. Samples were found in the Gulf of Mexico that had flowed into the Mississippi. Pseudo-nitzschia did not multiply until the 1950s, when wheat farmers began using chemical fertilizers. During the spring and summer, when Pseudo-nitzschia grows along the California coast, male sea lions do not eat; they are too busy protecting their breeding ground. So it is mainly the females that are poisoned, because they look for food while they are pregnant. Puppies also appear to have domoic acid in them because domoic acid was present in their urine. Domoic acid poisoning is a conditioning that messes with the brains of marine mammals and causes them to wash ashore in California as predictably as spring tides. Marine mammals absorb acid by eating anchovies and ... middle of paper ... or by domoic acid poisoning we can decrease deaths by keeping our ocean clean. Works Cited Foley, Sean. "Domoic acid". - Toxipedia. Network. May 23, 2014. .Osis, Vicki. Domoic Acid Poisoning and Amnesic Shellfish: by Vicki Osis. Corvallis, O.: Oregon Sea Grant, Oregon State U, 2003. Web. May 23, 2014. Pulido, Olga M. “Abstract.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. United States National Library of Medicine, May 28, 2008. Web. May 24, 2014. Wallerstein, Peter. “Domoic Acid Poisoning.” Rescue of marine animals. Network. May 23, 2014. Washington State Department of Health – Dchs – Epidemiology of communicable diseases. Shellfish poisoning: paralytic, domoic or diarrheal acid. Net.