Cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR) is an intracellular calcium (Ca(2+)(i)) mobilizer involved in fundamental cell functions from protists to higher plants and mammals. Biochemical similarities between the drought-signaling cascade in plants and the temperature-sensing pathway in marine sponges suggest an ancient evolutionary origin of a signaling cascade involving the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA), cADPR, and Ca(2+)(i). In Eudendrium racemosum (Hydrozoa, Cnidaria), exogenously added ABA stimulated ADP-ribosyl cyclase activity via a protein kinase A (PKA)-mediated phosphorylation and increased regeneration in the dark to levels observed under light conditions. Light stimulated endogenous ABA synthesis, which was conversely inhibited by the inhibitor of plant ABA synthesis Fluridone. The signal cascade of light-induced regeneration uncovered in E. racemosum: light --> increasing ABA --> PKA --> cyclase activation --> increasing [cADPR](i) --> increasing [Ca(2+)](i) --> regeneration is the first report of a complete signaling pathway in Eumetazoa involving a phytohormone.