The authors from the French Polynesia cluster also provided a re-
view of documented chelonitoxism clusters dating back from the
17th century (Fussy et al., 2007). They identified at least 12 clusters
that occurred in Madagascar from 1950 to 1998, 6 of which were
caused by Eretmochelys imbricata. Several authors (Kirschner and
Jacobitz, 2011; Fussy et al., 2007) mention that lyngbyatoxins
from marine algae could be implicated in poisoning from Chelonia
mydas but that the causative agents remain unclear for Eret-
mochelys imbricata. While Eretmochelys imbricata is thought to al-
ways be toxic (personal communication from marine biologist of
Moheli marine park), the Chelonia mydas species, known as green
turtle and also found on the coast of Moheli, is an accidental
reservoir. Cooking the meat of the sea turtle does not destroy the
toxin, suggesting a thermo-resistant toxin.