 Domoic acid was first isolated in 1959 from a species of red algae, "Chondria armata", in Japan; commonly referred to as "doumoi" (in Tokunoshima's dialect word) or "hanayanagi".Poisonings in history have been rare, or undocumented; however, it is thought that the increase in human activities is resulting in an increasing frequency of harmful algal blooms along coastlines in recent years.In 2015, the North American pacific coast was heavily impacted by an algal bloom, consisting predominantly of the domoic acid producing pennate diatom, "Pseudo-nitzschia."