Thread: Palytoxin?
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Old 09-18-2006, 12:33 PM   #3 (permalink)
Charlie97L
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: North Bethesda, MD
Posts: 1,288
Re: Palytoxin?

i was under the impression, that only a few had large concentrations of it... someone official had stated that, i'll try to find the article.

here's a good one by bourneman, but he doesn't mention concentrations.

http://www.reefs.org/library/aquariu...98/0198_1.html

my point was that if they ALL had it, a lot of aquarists and fraggers would be dropping like flies, seeing as a fatal dose is less than 5 micrograms. not a lot. at the very least, we'd be seeing many people being poisoned. i mean honestly, with the popularity of zoas, and the less than expert fraggers out there, you'd think there would be incidents. all i've ever read of was one person's dog dying. i think i've read about 2-3 serious coral poisonings, period, online, and those were both from open brain stings that induced heart attacks.

http://www.cbwinfo.com/Biological/Toxins/Palytoxin.html

this says only a few have it in high concentrations... now, no doubt, all zoanthids are toxic, but are they all deadly? i mean, most coral is toxic, period. i had a reaction to monti cap slime last week. tingly hand for about an hour.

i'm also under the impression that only the Genus "palythoa" of the family zoanthidae carries the toxin... and zoanthus does not. that would make sense, given it is "paly" toxin. while palythoa are common in aquaria, zoanthus generally provides us with the bright color morphs that are very popular.
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