Cone snails

Yes, I used to collect lots of them (carefully). That's an interesting article that I hadn't read, though. Thanks for posting.


Don
 
I did a lot of things with them, but a bunch of them ended up at Hopkins Marine Station where they were milked for venom. I hand collected them, but I knew what to look for to keep from being envenomated, and I put them in plastic jars rather than mesh bags (which is risky). You also don't want to put your hand into a container to try to retrieve one, the deadly species become agitated after they've been in a collecting bag or jar for an hour or two, and will fire their harpoons in defense.
 
I found this from the link in the article posted above.

"Ironically, among the compounds found in cone snail venom are proteins which, when isolated, have enormous potential as pain-killing drugs. Research shows that certain of these proteins target specific human pain receptors and can be up to 10,000 times more potent than morphine without morphine 's addictive properties and side-effects."

Fascinating
 
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