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n. A powerful toxin that occurs in corals of the genus Palythoa of the South Pacific and disrupts the flow of ions across cell membranes. It is rapidly fatal to humans in very small doses and is one of the most complex naturally occurring substances. [New Latin Paly(thoa), genus name (coined by Jean Vincent Félix Lamouroux (1779-1825), French biologist, perhaps based on the name of one of the Oceanids, such as Pāsithoē, in the Theogony of Hesiod) + TOXIN.] |
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