Abstract:Recently the frequency and intensity of toxic algal blooms are rising obviously in the coastal water of China. Phycotoxins produced by these algal blooms are transferred to mollusks along food chains, and then they are accumulated and transformed into complex shellfish toxins as result of biotransformation in shellfish. These shellfish toxins potentially threaten the shellfish seafood safety and consumer health. Most shellfish toxins are named as lipophilic shellfish toxins (LST) because of low polarity and high solubility in lipid compounds. Presently, Chinese mariculture shellfish are threatened by contamination of many lipophilic shellfish toxins, including okadaic acid (OA), pectenotoxin (PTX), yessotoxin (YTX), and azaspiracid (AZA)-groups, and gymnodimine (GYM) belonging to cyclic imine group. In this review, the chemical properties, origins, toxicological characteristics, safety limits, and detection/monitoring methods of these LST are summarized in detail. Toxin producing algae and shellfish contamination of these toxins in Chinese coastal water are also summarized briefly. Finally we proposed some research directions of LST in China in the future.