Palythoa toxica

P. toxica is an encrusting species with a firm, tough cuticle. ==History==

A Hawaiian legend describes how in a rock pool in the Hana district on the island of Maui there was to be found an organism known to the locals as "limu-make-o-Hana" ('seaweed of death from Hana'). The exact location of the pool was known to only a few individuals and visiting it was taboo. In 1961, intrigued by this, researchers searched for the location and discovered this zoanthid. Although advised by local people not to do so, they took some specimens away with them. On that very day, the laboratories of the Hawaiian Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island, Oahu were destroyed by fire. or according to one account, under severe threat, the warriors could overcome the taboo and dip their spear tips into the pool for them to become lethal. ==Distribution and habitat==

P. toxica was first discovered in the small district of Muolea on the island of Maui in Hawaii. It was discovered in a shallow pool about deep which was subject to inflows of fresh water during periods of heavy rainfall, so it would appear to be a euryhaline species. The organism has since been found sporadically throughout the state. ==Palytoxin==

P. toxica contains palytoxin, one of the most poisonous substances known. Other species of Palythoa have also been shown to contain the substance in varying amounts at different times and in different places, and some algae and certain crabs and fish have been found to contain it. It has been suggested that the toxin is actually produced by a dinoflagellate in the genus Ostreopsis and then incorporated into the tissues of various marine animals, possibly through biomagnification or a symbiotic relationship similar to that of zooxanthellae and stony corals. ==In aquaria==

Palythoa toxica has occasionally been sold to keepers of reef aquariums. ==References==