Babylonia japonica

Ivory Shell, Babylonia japonica Trumpet Shell, Charonia sauliae... 

TTX was also found in some other gastropods such as the Japanese ivory shell Babylonia japonica (11, 12), and the frog shell Tutufa lissostoma (15). In connection with this, some starfishes fed by those gastropods were found to contain TTX at significant levels (14). 

When the edible Japanese gastropod Babylonia japonica suddenly became toxic, the active toxin, isolated from the midgut of the animal, was shown to be the complex structure 50 containing the bromoindole moiety (Kosuge et al., 1972). Recent evidence suggests that the toxin was produced by a marine bacterium which sporadically proliferated as the result of heavy pulp mill pollution (Y. Shimizu, pers. comm., 1978). 

Kosuge, T., Zenda, H., Ochiae, A., Masaki, N., Noguchi, M., Kimura, S. and Narita, H., 1972. Isolation and structure determination of a new marine toxin, surugatoxin from the Japanese ivory shell, Babylonia japonica. Tetrahedron Lett., 1972 2545—2548. 

The story behind surugatoxin (12), which is a mydriatic, is fascinating. This toxin occurs in the gut of the gastropod Babylonia japonica, but only in those... 

Noguchi, T., Maruyama, J., Ueda, Y., and Hashimoto, K. 1981. Occurrence of tetrodotoxin in the Japanese ivory shell Babylonia japonica. Nippon Suisan Gakkaishi 47, 909-913. 

Noguchi, T., J. Maruyama, Y. Ueda, K. Hashimoto, and T. Harada Occurrence of Tetrodotoxin in the Japanese Ivory Shell Babylonia japonica. Bull. Japan. Soc. Sci. Fish. 47, 909 (1981). 

Kosuge, T, Tsuji, K., and Hirai, K. (1982) Isolation of neosurugatoxin from the Japanese ivory shell, Babylonia japonica. Chem. Pharm. Butt., 30, 3255-3259. 

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