ABSTRACT
Palytoxins are a group of complex, extremely potent, marine natural products fi rst described from tropical Cnidarian zoanthids (a type of colonial anemone). This organism was found by native Hawaiians and used for its unique toxic properties some years prior to the discovery of palytoxin, and a bit of mythology surrounded it. According to an ancient Hawaiian legend, written down by a Hawaiian scholar in the 19th century (Malo 1951) on the island of Maui near the harbor of Hana, in Mu’olea, there was a village of fi shermen haunted by a curse.
