Mussel Toxin

Mussel toxin, isolated by Brieger, is the supposed active principle of sea mussels (Mytilus edulis), which are commonly consumed as food in coastal countries; in the USSR they are found in the Black Sea. Usually mussels are harmless, but in polluted water they become poisonous. Poisoning by M. toxin takes various forms: sometimes a severe paralysis develops, resembling curare poisoning, in other cases cholera-like disorders appear, and in third cases it is limited to an erythematous rash with urticaria fever. Fatal poisonings also occur. Mussel toxin (C_eH₆N0₂) causes¹- curare-like paralysis; however, Thesen on mussels from Christiania showed that their toxin paralyzes not the respiratory muscles, but the heart. Richet found in mussels mytilocongestin, similar to the poison from actinias; with repeated injections mytilocongestin causes anaphylactic phenomena. In any case, the poisonous principle of mussels is not a normal constituent of their bodies, and regarding the cause of their poisonousness, mussels should be classified among the secondarily or accidentally poisonous animals.