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sequences. I hope the reader now appreciates why the designing
of a CTX test is such a challenge to scientists.
 How can the CTX supply problem be solved so critical
research can proceed? Why not extract CTX from toxic fish?
Let us do some simple calculations. A minimally adequate supply
of CTX for preliminary work would be one gram (0.035 oz).
If CTX is present at 10 ppm in typical toxic fish, to obtain a gram
of purified toxin would require 100 kgs (220 lbs) of very toxic
fish flesh. Extracting and purifying CTX from over 200 lbs. of
fish would be quite a test, if you could get that amount, all of
which must be known with certainty to be highly ciguatoxic.
If we assume one fish in one hundred is toxic, we initially need
11 tons of fish! How do we test 11 tons of fish to get the 220 lbs.
of very toxic ones? Back to square one, no CTX, no test; no test,
no CTX. For many years this was the rather gloomy prospect
faced by scientists interested in ciguatera. Now, with the identifi-
cation of G.t. as the culprit, an alternative supply of CTX may be
available: cultures of the dinoflagellate in the laboratory. Quite an
operation is required, dozens of large glass carboys, closely regu-
lated conditions of light, temperature, salinity, nutrient levels
and so on, hut in theory at least, it should be easier than coming
up with a ton of toxic fish. And a lot could be learned about the
biology of G.t. as well.

 In order to better understand the problem of G.t. culturing,
a few words about dinoflagellates are in order. They are single-
celled or unicellular organisms which may move about freely,
propelled by their whip-like flagella, or, as in the case of G.t.,
settle on a substrate and move relatively little. Dinoflagellates
are able to photosynthesize food and can obtain it from their
environment as well, so they are "plantimals," if you will, both
aulotrophic and heterotrophic. It takes great skill and ingenuity
to successfully raise dinoflagellates in culture. Thus it came as
no surprise to scientific teams at research institutions in the main-
land U.S., Hawaii, Tahiti, and Japan that it was difficult but not
impossible to obtain species-pure (unialgal) cultures of G.t. The
problem is G.t. makes very little CTX while in culture. When the
appropriate conditions are found maybe then G.t. can be coaxed
to produce CTX in abundance. The work continues.

 While the G.t. culture techniques are being worked out,
various additional approaches to ciguatera are being pursued.
There are other important questions which need answers. Does the
immune system of ciguatera victims respond to CTX? Antibodies
are the body's response to an antigen, in this case CTX. After an
initial encounter which provokes antigen-specific antibody syn-
thesis, the antibodies usually neutralize the specific antigen in
subsequent encounters. Interviews with persons who have suf-



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