[Coral-List] Inquiry to the Coral-l list....

[Bill Allison]

That may have a basis in fact:
Moore, R. E. and P. J. Scheuer (1971). "Palytoxin: A New Marine Toxin from
a Coelenterate." Science 172(3982): 495-498.
    abst
Palytoxin has been isolated from the zoanthids "limu-make-o-Hana"
(Tentatively identified as Palythoa sp.) as a noncrystalline,
chromatographically pure entity. Apart from polypeptide and protein toxins,
it is the most highly toxic substance known, with a lethal dose (LD$_{59}$)
in mice of 0.15 microgram per kilogram by intravenous injection. Unlike the
potent toxins batrachotoxin, saxitoxin, and tetrodotoxin which have
molecular weights of 500 or less, playtoxin has an estimated molecular
weight of 3300 and contains no repetitive amino acid or sugar units.



On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 11:11 AM, mtupper <mtupper at coastal-resources.org>wrote:

> Hi Mike and List,
>
> One thing I have often heard from reef aquarium hobbyists is that they
> sometimes
> remove live rock from their tanks and boil it to kill off any unwanted
> organisms
> that might compete with the coral species they plan on stocking. Several
> people
> have posted warnings on reef aquarium blogs to be very careful when
> boiling live
> rock containing zooanthids, because the fumes are highly toxic and "someone
> almost died" from inhaling the fumes. The fact the person who almost died
> was
> always nameless and referred to in the singular led me to believe this was
> just
> an urban legend, but perhaps someone with more reef aquarium experience
> than I
> would know better.
>
> Cheers,
> Mark
>
> Dr. Mark Tupper
> Coastal Resources Association
> 207-10822 City Parkway, Surrey, BC, Canada V3T 0C2
> www.coastal-resources.org
> Email: mtupper at coastal-resources.org
> Tel. 1-604-588-1674; Mobile: 1-604-961-2022
>
> Philippines Office:
> Poblacion, Sagay, Camiguin, Philippines 9103
> Tel. 63-927-921-9915
>
> On January 11, 2013 at 7:43 AM "J. Michael Nolan"
> <mnolan at rainforestandreef..org>
> wrote:
> > List Members...
> >
> > A Biology Educator from NY State the following to me yesterday...."A man
> on
> > Long Island was just released from the hospital where he was in critical
> > day-to-day condition after having inhaled toxic venom fumes from coral
> in his
> > saltwater fishtank. There was a full description of his respiratory
> distress,
> > but I don't remember those details. This is now 3 weeks later, and he
> has just
> > come off oxygen."
> >
> > I looked on the web and could not find any References to it, she said
> there
> > were many links to the situation.
> >
> > Can any of the Coral Experts on the list tell me more? Please e-mail me
> > off-list and I will be pleased to summarize. I know a bit about Coral
> Biology,
> > but nothing like this.
> >
> > Thank you and have a great Friday.
> >
> > Mike Nolan
> >
> > ----------
> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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