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Publisher Summary The venomous and poisonous marine animals have held a fascination for man since the very beginnings of written history. Early people often attributed the consequences of their bites and stings, or their ingestion, to forces beyond nature, sometimes to vengeful deities thought to be embodied in the animals themselves. To these early people, the effects of the bites or stings by animals were so surprising, so varied, and often so violent that the injuries were usually shrouded with much myth and superstition. The study of the marine toxins, marine toxinology, has also enjoyed a fascinating history, since by the very nature of the complexity of these substances and their ability to destroy life by complicated and sometimes undetermined means, their investigation has invited speculation, exaggeration, and sometimes pure fantasy. However, during the past three decades, considerable progress has been made on the chemistry and physiopharmacology of the marine toxins. This chapter treats the toxins of some of the more venomous and poisonous organisms of the world. It is concerned with the chemical, toxicological and immunological properties of the toxins, the animal's venom apparatus and the mechanism of envenomation. Some attention has been given to the general biology of the animals and to the clinical problem of poisoning in man. A second purpose of the chapter is to present an account of several of the more interesting current problems in marine toxinology. |
