The SaltyBox - Marine Fish & Reef Keeping Forum: Have you got a killer coral in your reef?

Have you got a killer coral in your reef?
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cdurkin100 on 17/05/2011 13:16:00
 
The paper, ‘Palytoxin Found in Palythoa sp. Zoanthids (Anthozoa, 
Hexacorallia) Sold in the Home Aquarium Trade’ by Jonathan R. Deeds,  Sara M.
Handy, Kevin D. White and James D. Reimer, puts into perspective  how very
dangerous the compound, named, palytoxin is, describing it as,  “one of the
deadliest toxins ever discovered”
Interestingly, the first three named authors are all from the Center  for Food
Safety and Applied Nutrition, United States Food and Drug  Administration. The
tone of the abstract seems to be one of disbelief,  that one of the most potent
non-protein compounds ever discovered is  present in dangerous quantities in a
species of zoanthids commonly sold  in the home aquarium trade.
This paper evolved from work done assisting the Georgia poison center  in an
investigation into a potential poisoning with palytoxin from  zoanthids in a
home aquarium. During the investigation, the authors  learnt of another marine
aquarium hobbyist who had recently experienced a  severe respiratory reaction
while trying to eradicate non-descript  colonies of zoanthids that were
overgrowing more desirable species. This  led to the research reported in the
paper where, in an attempt to  determine the prevalence of palytoxin in aquarium
store zoanthids, the  authors purchased colonies from local aquarium stores,
analyzed them for  palytoxin and also performed molecular analysis in an attempt
to  identify the colonies to species level.
This clam encrusted with polyps is from the incident where boiling water was
used, resulting in intoxication through inhalation.
In further researching this, some authorities believe that palytoxin,  as a
naturally occurring poison, is second only to maitotoxin, produced  by a marine
dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus.
Palytoxin poses a risk to humans through ingestion (most commonly as a  result
of eating contaminated seafood), inhalation (exposure to  aerosols containing
palytoxin – as in the case of the aquarist who  inhaled steam when trying to
remove polyps with boiling water) and via  the skin (handling toxic zoanthids).
Symptoms associated with palytoxin poisoning include: a  bitter/metallic taste,
abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea,  mild to acute lethargy, a
sensation of tingling, pricking, or numbness  of the skin, low heart rate, renal
failure, impairment of sensation,  muscle spasms, tremor, muscle pain, cyanosis
and respiratory distress.  In the fatal cases of palytoxin poisoning, death
mostly results from  heart failure.
It is important for reef keepers to remain calm on the subject and  not assume
that every zoanthid is a danger, and to remember that at most  this is really a
potential danger. Wash your hands after touching these  corals and don’t touch
your eyes or mouth; if you are worried about  handling them then wear gloves.
Given the difficulty in identifying polyps down to species level it  is not
possible to definitively state whether or not any particular  specimen is toxic.
You can find the paper in full at:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0018235
Zoanthid samples collected from aquarium stores. [C-K]
Red Box – Visually and genetically consistent with Palythoa spp. and 
containing high concentrations of palytoxins (500–3500 mg/g wet  zoanthid).
Green Box – Visually and genetically consistent with Palythoa spp. but non or
weakly toxic.
Blue Box – visually and genetically consistent with Zoanthus spp., non or
weakly toxic.
Bar represents 1 cm.
For more on the potentially dangerous invertebrates that you might come across
in the reef aquarium, see: ‘Dangerous Marine Invertebrates.’
Tim Hayes
Midland Reefs