Zoanthids (Anthozoa, Hexacorallia) are colonial anemones that contain one of the deadliest toxins ever discovered, palytoxin (LD(50) in mice 300 ng/kg), but it is generally believed that highly toxic species are not sold in the home aquarium trade. We previously showed that an unintentionally introduced zoanthid in a home aquarium contained high concentrations of palytoxin and was likely respon...

The coral reefs of Pirangi beach have suffered the impact of anthropic actions, mainly those related to tourism. To evaluate these effects, algal samples were collected at nine stations, distributed along the reef fringe. The macrobenthic community (algae/coral) was identified through photographic methods. A total of thirty species of algae, five species of coral, and one species of mollusk wer...

Wattenberg EV. Palytoxin: exploiting a novel skin tumor promoter to explore signal transduction and carcinogenesis. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 292: C24–C32, 2007. First published July 19, 2006; doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00254.2006.—Palytoxin is a novel skin tumor promoter, which has been used to help probe the role of different types of signaling mechanisms in carcinogenesis. The multistage mouse skin...