The key to turning something from enemy to friend is finding its mechanism of action, at which point scientists can work toward an effective, helpful treatment.Īnd that’s what recently happened with cone snail toxins. This is nothing new many medications are based on something dangerous found in nature. However, what can kill can also sometimes heal. KQED shares a video of a cone snail’s feeding technique in action (Cone snail shells are strikingly patterned, and collectors sometimes pick up shells that are, alas, still inhabited.) And impressive: this slow-moving predator can eat fish many times its size, and its poison can be strong enough to kill people. Nature can be brutal, but the harpoon-and-paralyze feeding methods of the cone snail are particularly nightmarish. Once the victim is within striking range, the hunter lets its poisonous harpoon fly, spearing and tethering its victim and pulling it ever closer as the toxins do their paralyzing work. Photograph taken at the Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory, 2002Īrmed and ready, the hunter senses that prey is approaching.
Pretty, deadly: toxins from the marine cone snail can kill … and be used for lifesaving medicines. It has long been known that cone snail venom is deadly – but new research shows that it can also be used to treat a whole host of conditions from Alzheimer’s to high blood pressure
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