JOHANNESBURG - Authorities are warning the public not to eat shellfish washed up along the West Coast.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment says large numbers of white mussels, whelks and other shellfish have died and washed ashore at St Helena Bay and Elandsbaai.
They say this is probably due to a harmful bloom of algae, known as a “Red Tide”.
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While this Red Tide is colourless and invisible, the neurotoxins in affected shellfish can cause paralytic poisoning, which is extremely dangerous to humans.
The Department stresses that no shellfish, whether washed ashore or collected from the sea, should be eaten.
It is monitoring the situation.