In 2007, a man from Woodbridge, Virginia was rushed into hospital after inhaling an aerosolised version of one of the deadliest poisons on the planet. He was not the victim of a terrorist attack. He wasn’t working in a biohazard laboratory. He was trying to clean out his fish tank. The man, who posts on the Reef Central Forums as Steveoutlaw, was trying to get rid of a colony of zoanthids – a relative of corals and sea anemones – that was infesting his aquarium rocks. He had heard that boiling water would do the trick. When he tried it, he accidentally inhaled some of the steam. Twenty minutes later, his nose was running and he had a cough. Four hours later, his breathing was laboured and he was headed to the emergency room. By the time he arrived, he was suffering from severe coughing fits and chest pains. He was stabilised, but he developed asthma and a persistent cough, and had to use steroids and an inhaler for at least two months. The reason for his sudden illness was palytoxin, a speciality of zoanthids, and the second deadliest poison in the natural world.

One gram of the stuff will kill more than a hundred million mice. This poison, liberated by the boiling water, had risen into Steveoutlaw’s airways in a cloud of steam.fish tank for sale co durham Palytoxin is shrouded in legend. fish tank for sale in dagenhamHawaiian islanders tell of a cursed village in Maui, whose members defied a shark god that had been eating their fellow villagers. used fish tank winnipegThey dismembered and burned the god, before scattering his ashes in a tide pool near the town of Hana. fish aquariums for sale in alabamaShortly after, a mysterious type of seaweed started growing in the pool. fish tank for sale shropshire

It became known as “limu-make-o-Hana” (deadly seaweed of Hana). If smeared on a spear’s point, it could instantly kill its victims. The shark god may have been an elaborate fiction, but in 1961, Philip Helfrich and John Shupe actually found the legendary pool. fish tank wholesaleWithin it, they discovered a new species of zoanthid called Palythoa toxica. The limu-make-o-Hana was real, but it wasn’t seaweed – it was a type of colonial anemone. In 1971, Richard Moore and Paul Scheuer isolated the chemical responsible for the zoanthid’s lethal powers  – palytoxin. Now, Jonathan Deeds from the US Food and Drug Administration has found that the poison is readily available in aquarium stores. Deeds was investigating a case of palytoxin poisoning when he heard about Steveoutlaw’s unfortunate incident. He visited the man, collected a sample of the offending zoanthid, and found that it was indeed heavy with palytoxin.

It wasn’t hard to get his hands on more. Deeds bought 15 more colonies from three aquarium stores in the Washington DC area, of the same species that gave Steveoutlaw his whiff of toxic steam. Three of the samples yielded even more poison. Every gram contained enough palytoxin to kill 300,000 mice, or around 80 people. Unfortunately, Deeds has no clear message for aquarium owners. Some of the zoanthid species that he tested weren’t toxic at all, and indeed, many people claim to have handled zoanthids for years without problems. However, those that contain palytoxin can kill if even a small amount of the poison gets on the skin. And, as Steveoutlaw found, even breathing in an aerosolised version of the poison is a bad idea. The problem is that telling zoanthids apart is incredibly difficult – Deeds only did it with any degree of certainty using genetic analysis. And tracing the origins of these animals isn’t easy either. One of the aquarium owners who Deeds visited said that he got his zoanthids through mixed containers of corals and rock fragments, known as “frags”, with no information about their origins.

The animals can be accidentally introduced on unsuspecting rocks. And many aquarium owners will break the rocks up themselves and exchange them between friends. As Deeds wrote, “the legendary limu appears to be exacting its ancient curse once again, but this time upon unsuspecting marine home aquarists.” Owners are “often unaware  of the deadly poisons they are being exposed to”. PS Venom enthusiasts know that the potency of poisons is measured using the LD-50 – the dose that will kill half a group of mice after a set time. The most venomous snake has an LD-50 of 25 micrograms per kilogram of body weight. For tetrodotoxin, the equivalent figure is 8 micrograms. For batrachotoxin, the poison from the skin of poison dart frogs, it’s 2-7 micrograms. For palytoxin, it’s 0.3 micrograms (or 300 nanograms). Reference: Deeds, J., Handy, S., White, K., & Reimer, J. (2011). Palytoxin Found in Palythoa sp. Zoanthids (Anthozoa, Hexacorallia) Sold in the Home Aquarium Trade PLoS ONE, 6 (4) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018235

More on poisons and venoms: Animal behaviour, Animal defences, Animals, Corals, InvertebratesEveryday Recycling Drop-off site (no charge): Seven days/week during daylight hours Hard-to-Recycle Materials Yard ($5 facility use fee): Regular Hours: Tues-Sat 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Winter Hours (Nov 1 - Mar 31): Tues-Sat 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The City accepts common recyclables like cardboard, paper, mixed bottles/cans, and glass at the everyday recycling drop-off site for no charge. There is a $5 facility use fee charged for hard to recycle items (additional fees apply for e-waste and organic debris). Note that this area is closed on Sundays and Mondays Give the gift of recycling! Stop by the gatehouse at the Timberline Recycling Center's Hard-to-Recycle Materials Yard to buy certificates for a complimentary entrance Fish Lake Trailer Sales is  located at the US Route 12 entrance of Fish Lake Beach Camping Resort. Winter Hours: 9am-4pm Monday-Saturday;

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