First report of the cyanobacterial toxin cylindrospermopsin in New Zealand

Cylindrospermopsin, a hepatotoxin produced by cyanobacteria, has been unamb iguously detected in cyanobacteria collected from a recreational lake in th e Wellington region of New Zealand. To our knowledge this is the first repo rt of cylindrospermopsin in New Zealand. Cylindrospermopsin and several mic rocystins were identified by reversed phase high-performance liquid chromat ography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) u sing an atmospheric-pressure ionization source and an ionspray interface. T he presence of cylindrospermopsin in New Zealand highlights the risk of dir ect cyanobacterial toxin exposure in recreational waters. Crown Copyright ( C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.