304 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XVII, July 1963 
tensis and T. coriacea it was not possible to 
obtain an LD 99 . 
The extracts of the Nudibranch Diaulula 
sandiegensis and the Mollusca Crassoslrea gigas 
and Mytilus calif ornianus, each assayed on six 
mice at the dose of 60 cc extract per kilo of 
mouse, caused transitory depression of activity 
of the injected mice, but not death. 
The extracts of all anemone species lost their 
toxicity when they were heated at 90 C for 
20 min. 
DISCUSSION 
The storing of the anemones alive for 2 
weeks or longer before preparing the extracts 
was intended to minimize the amount of pos- 
sibly toxic products from food ingested by 
them. The dialysis of the extracts was aimed at 
minimizing their content of biologically active 
amines. The nature of the non-dialyzable tox- 
ins is not known. They may be proteins similar 
to those demonstrated by various authors in 
other coelenterates ( Mathias et ah, I960; Far- 
ber et al., 1961 ). 
We found information concerning the chem- 
ical components of the anemones here investi- 
gated only in the literature on A. elegantissima 
(Bergmann and Landowne, 1958). In general 
the lipid content of coelenterates Is high, and 
the proportions of various lipids and soaps 
and their chemical nature vary from one species 
to another (Bergmann et al, 1956; Bergmann 
and Landowne, 1958). The solubility of pro- 
teins is affected by lipids, and if it is assumed 
that the poisons here studied are proteins, it can 
be speculated that the solubility of these poi- 
sons may vary from one species to another. 
The data of Table 1 suggest that the toxicity 
of anemones may vary from species to species. 
This interpretation is supported by the great 
difference between species with respect to po- 
tency of extracts, which was observed even 
when the dose of the weaker extracts was 
tripled. But it is also possible that the efficiency 
of the extracting method, and hence the poison 
content of the extracts, may vary from species 
to species. This consideration applies equally 
to our study and to other authors’ reports of 
species variation in toxic compounds. These 
causes for variation may coexist. 
Lethal effects on mice were observed with 
extracts of the anemones but not with extracts 
of the Nudibranch and the two bivalves. This 
suggests that toxicity Is not a property of all 
littoral lower metazoa. 
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