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Updated: Jan 4, 2026

A Fish-feeding Laboratory Bioassay to Assess the Antipredatory Activity of Secondary Metabolites from the Tissues of Marine Organisms
Published on: January 11, 2015
Marine natural products from zoantharians: bioactivity, biosynthesis, systematics, and ecological roles
Paul O Guillen1, Karla B Jaramillo, Grégory Genta-Jouve
1Marine Biodiscovery, School of Chemistry and Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway), University Road, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland. olivier.thomas@nuigalway.ie.
Abstract:
Covering: up to the end of 2018Zoantharians, also improperly known as zoanthids or colonial anemones, are well known by aquarists because of their ease of use in aquaria but also because of their splendid colours. However, high concentrations of the highly toxic palytoxin found in some species of zoantharians maintained in reef aquaria has raised some issues recently, unveiling at the same time a rather unknown chemical diversity hidden in these marine beauties. Herein, we report the structure of the metabolites described in all species of zoantharians up to the end of 2018 and their associated biological activities. As sessile invertebrates, zoantharians harbour a rich diversity of micro-organisms that can play a role in the biosynthesis of these natural products and we detail the current hypotheses on the metabolic pathways leading to the identified ecdysteroids, zoanthoxanthins, zoanthamines, palytoxins and others. Finally, we assess the possible use of these metabolites in the systematics of such a complex group of marine invertebrates and we discuss their possible ecological roles. Altogether, this review brings some insights into the rich chemical diversity of zoantharians and their potential for marine biodiscovery and marine ecology.
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