Distribution of palytoxin in coral reef organisms living in close proximity to an aggregation of Palythoa tuberculosa

Abstract

Palytoxin is a strong marine toxin that was first isolated from the zoantharian Palythoa toxica and later from other species of the genus Palythoa. How the toxin gets into the animal remains an unsolved question. To study the specificity of palytoxin distribution, the toxin content of Palythoa tuberculosa and other organisms living in close association on a coral reef in Okinawa were analysed by mass spectrometry. In contrast to earlier reports, palytoxin was only detected in P. tuberculosa colonies.