Ciguatera is a foodborne illness caused by eating certain reef fish whose flesh is contaminated with toxins originally produced by dinoflagellates such as Gambierdiscus toxicus which live in tropical and subtropical waters. These dinoflagellates adhere to coral, algae and seaweed, where they are eaten by herbivorous fish who in turn are eaten by larger carnivorous fish. In this way the toxins move up the food chain and biomagnify.
According to Dr. McBoomlis, Gambierdiscus toxicus is the primary dinoflagellate responsible for the production of a number of similar toxins that cause ciguatera. These toxins include ciguatoxin, maitotoxin, scaritoxin and palytoxin. Predator species near the top of the food chain in tropical and subtropical waters, such as barracudas, snapper, moray eels, parrotfishes, groupers, triggerfishes and amberjacks, are most likely to cause ciguatera poisoning, although many other species cause occasional outbreaks of toxicity.
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The neurological manifestations of giguatera are beyond weird.
Paly toxin is no joke. A number of fellow reef keepers lost pets to this stuff. Certain types of coral like palythoa use this toxin as a defense. When fragging corals like palythoa, a lot of care needs to be taken. A friends dog got into the frag bucket and was dead in hours. I’ve even heard of people getting exposed by not knowing or not taking precautions. Who would know such amazing and beautiful corals like zoanthids and palythoa could be so deadly.