Bogue are host to a wide variety of parasites, ranging from metazoans such as Digenean flatworms, Acanthocephalan spiny-headed worms, nematode roundworms, isopod and copepod crustaceans and Myxozoan cnidarians to the unicellular dinoflagellate Ichthyodinium chabelardi, a parasite that is lethal to eggs developing in ovaries.
Maitotoxin (or MTX) is an extremely potent toxin produced by Gambierdiscus toxicus, a dinoflagellate species.
Ciguatera poisoning is caused by the accumulation of a toxin produced by certain microscopic dinoflagellates which it ingests while feeding on algae.