First reported case of turtle deaths during a toxic Microcystis spp. bloom in Lake Oubeira, Algeria

Microcystins analysis was conducted in field cyanobacterial bloom samples and dead terrapin tissues from Lake Oubeira (Algeria) with an aim of studying the cause of the mortality of the freshwater terrapin species Emys orbicularis and Mauremys leprosa during October 2005. The deaths of these two terrapin species were observed during a bloom of Microcystis spp. The total microcystin content per phytoplankton biomass evaluated with the methanol extraction-protein phosphatase methodology was 1.12 mg MCYST-LR equivalents/g dried bloom material. The analysis of this bloom extract by the LC/MS technique demonstrated the presence of three microcystin variants: microcystin-LR (MCYST-LR), microcystin-YR (MCYST-YR), and microcystin-RR (MCYST-RR). Microcystins were also detected in fresh carcasses of terrapin liver, viscera and muscle tissues using the GC/MS after Lemieux oxidation method and the PP2A inhibition assay. The high level of microcystins detected using the Lemieux oxidation-GC/MS method in the liver tissue (1192.8 μg MCYST-LR equivalent/g dw) and in the viscera tissue (37.19 μg MCYST-LR equivalent/g dw) of the species M. leprosa and E. orbicularis, respectively, and the liver crumbling observed after the necropsy examination of the fresh carcass of M. leprosa support the possibility that cyanobacterial microcystins contribute to the turtle mortalities.