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Mrs Stevenson later learned she had been poisoned by palytoxin - a potentially lethal chemical released by coral when stressed.

In 2015, a Reef-A-Palooza in Orlando hosted a lecture on palytoxin, and websites aimed at aquarium owners post well-informed alerts.

A pair of chemists discovered palytoxin decades ago when they followed the tale of "Limu-make-o-Hana," a Hawaiian legend that roughly translates as “deadly seaweed of Hana.”

Within a decade, chemists identified the macromolecule, naming it palytoxin after the soft coral species.

But it would take decades of work to understand palytoxin's structure.