Marginally related, the case of Karen Wetterhahn: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn</a><p><i>Wetterhahn, a specialist in toxic metals, was accidentally poisoned in her lab by a few drops of the toxic, colorless compound, which penetrated her protective glove... Wetterhahn recalled that she had spilled several drops of dimethylmercury from the tip of the pipette onto her latex gloved hand. Tests later showed that this can rapidly permeate different kinds of latex gloves and enter the skin within about 15 seconds</i>
I worked at an aquarium store (probably one of the ones mentioned in the story) for a long time, and was a pretty experienced and dedicated reefkeeper at my peak, and I never knew this.<p>This situation must be incredibly unlikely though because I've dealt with thousands of Zooanthids and hundreds of customers over the years I never had anything like this happen nor heard about it from anybody. However, I certainly wish I had known so I could have warned customers about the risks, because in the aquarium world Zooanthids are considered a great starter coral because they are very hardy and don't require much light.
second deadlist in the <i>natural</i> world, not overall.<p>a person who was poisoned had an opportunity to figure 'oh i dont feel well', went to a hospital, <i>made it</i> to the hospital, and survived<p>the real deadly biological systems don't even give you a chance to ask if that is a missile coming over the hill
Saltwater aquarium owner here-- I own many palytoxin soft corals and have never felt any danger whatsoever; however that doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful with these guys (zoanthids, palythoa, etc). I've never cut them open or anything, so I'm safe I think :)
To get a scale of things I just had to find out what the weight of a typical grain of salt is. <a href="http://answers.wikia.com/wiki/How_much_does_a_grain_of_salt_weigh" rel="nofollow">http://answers.wikia.com/wiki/How_much_does_a_grain_of_salt_...</a><p>If one goes by the minimum value which is 0.05mg, an equivalent amount of this stuff can kill 2,500 human sized mice with 50% probability. That's potent stuff.<p>Well, had written 'people' in place of 'human sized mice' but the LD-50 values used were those for mice, so it is only fair that I measure in "human sized mice" units.
In other news, post security-check airport janitorial closets and bathrooms contain tons of unguarded ammonia and bleach containers all over the place.
Hmm, I think someone should update this page...
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoantharia#Dangers" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoantharia#Dangers</a><p><i>In order for this toxin to be dangerous to humans, the average aquarist would need to ingest the zoanthid in sufficient quantities, or brush a recent cut over it. Average handling, propagation and aquarium maintenance is unlikely to pose any danger beyond a localized skin reaction.[citation needed] A 2010 study found toxic zoanthids in three Washington D.C. area aquarium stores.[7]</i>