Right Type Departmental Bulletin Paper

Human dermal afflictions due to stings or penetrations of marine orga-nisms are well documented, but most of the previous records were concerned with the cases in which coelenterates or schistosome cercariae were involved. Reports incriminating organisms other than the above-mentioned animal groups as the causative agent in marine contact dermatitis are rather scarce but they cover a great variety of organisms: the blue-green alga Lyngbya (ARNOLD 1959; CHu 1959; GRAUER 1959), the diatom Fragillaria (FRASER & LYELL 1963)2l, the sponges Tedania and Spheciospongia, both only experimentally (HUTTON 1952), the polychaete Hermodice, only experimentally (HuTTON 1952), the bryozoan Alcyonidium (SEVILLE 1957, cited by FRASER & LYELL 1963), zoea larvae of the porcelain crab Polyonyx (ZrNN 1954), etc. Creseis acicula RANG, a thecoso-matous planktonic pteropod, is known as another agent organism responsible for a particular type of contact dermatitis in the sea. A case of "sea stings " due to this pteropod was reported by HuTTON (1960) from a bathing place at St. Petersburg, Florida, U. S. A. It occurre