All beaches in Discovery Bay have been closed to the recreational harvest of shellfish after paralytic shellfish poison, or red tide, was detected in shellfish samples collected from the bay.
The closure by the state Health Department covers clams, oysters, mussels, scallops and other species of mollusks.
Shellfish currently on the market have already undergone testing and should be safe to eat.
While crab is not included in this closure, the department said that crab innards should be discarded and only the crab meat be eaten.
Paralytic shellfish poison poisoning can be life-threatening, and symptoms can include numbness of the tongue and lips, tingling in the toes and fingertips, loss of muscular control and difficulty breathing.
The toxin is not destroyed by cooking or freezing and there is no known antidote.
Last week, state officials closed Sequim Bay and a number of beaches along the North Olympic Peninsula were closed to commercial and recreational shellfish harvest after testing showed elevated levels of domoic acid — a dangerous, naturally occurring toxin produced by microscopic algae — in oysters and clams.
“Any shellfish harvested from Sequim Bay within the past week should not be eaten,”‘ Frank Cox, coordinator of the Department of Health’s Marine Biotoxin Program, said.
