Palytoxin Occurs in Many Organisms

[JakStat]

There's been a lot of hype about, as well as downplaying of, the dangers of palytoxin. Palytoxin is an extremely toxic compund originally isolated from Palythoa polyps and historically used on poison arrows by indigenous tribesmen in the Pacific. It has subsequently been isolated unexpectedly from many organisms, including fish, anemones, gorgonians and crustaceans.

Some reefers have reported poisoning events from fragging various corals, and others discount the reports based on limited data, and the false assumption that the toxin is found only in 1 or 2 species. Take what you want from the data presented below, some like to live dangerously and others prefer to play it safe. It's up to you to evaluate this and make your own choices regarding handling procedures.

This post is not intended to induce irrational fears about one's tank. However, the biology is fascinating and worth discussing.

From the abstracts quoted below, we can see that some premises that are generally agreed upon by researchers who study palytoxin are:

1) Palytoxin has a wide geographic distribution. It has been isolated from specimens originating in Australia, Indonesia, Hawaii, South Pacific, Atlantic as well as the Caribbean.
2) The source is a symbiotic dinoflagellate found in some corals. The palytoxin-containing corals can then be eaten by fish and the toxin sequestered in tissue.
3) Palytoxin can be isolated from a variety of fishes as well as various corals. It has been isolated from Palythoa sp., Protopalythoa sp., Zoanthus sp., gorgonians, sponges as well as animals and fish that feed on these corals e.g. parrotfish.

The search engine used was the National Institutes of Health literature search engine, NCBI PubMed, using "palytoxin" as the search parameter. I only read about 10 abstracts and cited a few, there's 230 in total, so there's a lot more than this to be seen. I can't link the search results itself, but it's easy to follow what I did if you'd like to check it out yourself.

Each quote is from a different study.

"In coral reefs of the Caribbean Sea (Colombia) palytoxin (PTX) has been detected in zoanthid species of the genera Palythoa and Zoanthus..."
Toxicon. 1995 Nov;33(11):1531-7. Studies on the origin and distribution of palytoxin in a Caribbean coral reef. Gleibs S, Mebs D, Werding B.

"This result indicates that the dinoflagellate O. siamensis is one of the biogenetic origins of palytoxin."
Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2001 Nov;65(11):2585-8.Structure elucidation of ostreocin D, a palytoxin analog isolated from the dinoflagellate Ostreopsis siamensis.Ukena T, Satake M, Usami M, Oshima Y, Naoki H, Fujita T, Kan Y, Yasumoto T.

"...palytoxin (PTX), which has been detected in zoanthid species of the genus Palythoa, also occurred in various other marine organisms living in close association with zoanthid colonies, e.g. sponges (Porifera), soft corals (Alcyonaria), gorgonians (Gorgonaria), mussels, and crustaceans. Predators, e.g. polychaete worms (Hermodice carunculata), a starfish (Acanthaster planci) and fish (Chaetodon species) feeding on Palythoa colonies, accumulate high toxin concentrations in their organs, where PTX is stored in its active form..."
Toxicon. 1999 Nov;37(11):1521-7. Distribution and sequestration of palytoxin in coral reef animals.Gleibs S, Mebs D.Zentrum der Rechtsmedizin, University of Frankfurt, Germany.

"Palytoxin which had been primarily detected in marine zoanthids (Palythoa sp.), occurs also in a wide range of other animals, e.g. in sponges, corals, shellfish, polychaetes and crustaceans, but also in fish, which feed on crustaceans and zoanthids as well. :
Toxicon. 1998 Nov;36(11):1519-22. Occurrence and sequestration of toxins in food chains. Mebs D.Zentrum der Rechtsmedizin, University of Frankfurt, Germany.

"Between October 30 and November 4, 2000, eleven persons were intoxicated due to ingestion of a serranid fish Epinephelus sp. in Kochi Prefecture, Japan....The causative agent was identified as palytoxin (PTX) on the basis of delayed haemolytic activity which was inhibited by an anti-PTX antibody and ouabain (g-strophanthin). To our knowledge, this is the first report on palytoxin poisoning with serranid fish."
J Nat Toxins. 2002 Dec;11(4):277-82.Occurrence of a food poisoning incident by palytoxin from a serranid Epinephelus sp. in Japan. Taniyama S, Mahmud Y, Terada M, Takatani T, Arakawa O, Noguchi T.

"A very potent non-protein toxin was isolated from the sea anemone Radianthus macrodactylus ... The toxin was identified as palytoxin by u.v.-, i.r.- and 500 MHz 1H NMR spectroscopy. Its LD50 was 0.74 +/- 0.29 micrograms/kg by i.v. injection into mice. So far, palytoxin has been associated with zoanthids only."
Sea anemone Radianthus macrodactylus--a new source of palytoxin.
Toxicon. 1992 Nov;30(11):1449-56. Related Articles, Links
Mahnir VM, Kozlovskaya EP, Kalinovsky AI.
Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok.

[Reefrunner262]

Great information, thanks for sharing. I did not know palytoxin occured in so many things. Great work

Travis

[brandonberry]

I never realized that palytoxin was associated with Ciguatera poisoning until I did a search and found this:

http://www.docforgey.com/knowledge/5f.html

I guess I better not eat that angelfish that's been eating my zoanthids..LOL

[Travis L. Stevens]

Also for those that would like more information on the Palytoxin itself. Here is a good read. Short, simple, and to the point.

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

[Reefrunner262]

Originally posted by Travis L. Stevens
Also for those that would like more information on the Palytoxin itself. Here is a good read. Short, simple, and to the point.

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

I like when its the the point like that; gotta love it.

Travis

[Johnsteph10]

Wear gloves and all is fine.

[JakStat]

Originally posted by Travis L. Stevens
Also for those that would like more information on the Palytoxin itself. Here is a good read. Short, simple, and to the point.

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

Good link, the most striking thing to me is that the compound is stable in seawater and doesn't require biological sequestration in the host organism for stability. With so many potential chelating ions in seawater you'd think the half-life would be measurable. Scary.

[Amphiprion]

Just because a toxin is isolated in a specific organism, doesnt mean that a similar (or same) substance cannot be found naturally occurring elsewhere. A good example it tetraodotoxin--found in pufferfish as well as blue-ringed octopus species.

[JakStat]

Originally posted by Amphiprion
Just because a toxin is isolated in a specific organism, doesnt mean that a similar (or same) substance cannot be found naturally occurring elsewhere. A good example it tetraodotoxin--found in pufferfish as well as blue-ringed octopus species.

Evidently.

I posted this because thus far the common wisdom holds that palytoxin occurs in only a few species of Zoanthids. I've not read any aquarium-related books, mags, or posts here or anywhere else that says otherwise. As far as I've seen, there have been numerous arguments about palytoxin on this and other reefing boards, but no mention of a pleiotropic distribution this wide.

Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to share what I discovered during a bored lunch break.

Also, the novel aspects of some of these papers, and the subsequent reason for the researchers getting their data published in the first place, is the isolation of palytoxin from unexpected sources.

[Airman]

Which zoanthids has the highest concentration of playtoxins? I want to start making poison arrows.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Either way, it is a very nice find. And I'm glad you posted it. But what worries me is the coral farmer. You never know when you have a Palythoa that produces copious amounts of PTX. And the more it is fragged and stressed, the more it realeases. And because it does not readily break down, without good husbandry and consistant partial waterchanges. You are looking at a very high concentration of a highly toxic..uh...toxin. (pardon the redundancy there. My scientific vocabulary lacks the proper college education ) And with your findings, JakStat, if this coral is housed with other corals, especially other Zoanthidae species that can hold onto this, you're looking at a toxic epidimic of corals being shipped out that contain PTX and may even be able to produce it themselves. With all that said, the coral farmer should take special care and serious caution in their own health and others around them. But as Johnsteph10 stated, just wear gloves and it should only be a slight risk.