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Toxoplasma gondii affects a wide variety of hosts including threatened southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) which serve as sentinels for the detection of the parasite's transmission into marine ecosystems. Toxoplasmosis is a major cause of mortality and contributor to the slow rate of population recovery for southern sea otters in California. An updated seroprevalence analysis showed that 52% of 305 freshly dead, beachcast sea otters and 38% of 257 live sea otters sampled along the California coast from 1998 to 2004 were infected with T. gondii. Areas with high T. gondii exposure were predominantly sandy bays near urban centres with freshwater runoff. Genotypic characterisation of 15 new T. gondii isolates obtained from otters in 2004 identified only X alleles at B1 and SAG1. A total of 38/50 or 72% of all otter isolates so far examined have been infected with a Type X strain. Type X isolates were also …