Last week I blogged about the unique properties of cone snail venom. Now take a took at that venom put to use:
I wish I could slow it down enough to see the moment where the snail impales the fish with the venom barb, but its too quick.
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Back in February I discovered the remarkable work of Australian biologist Bryan Grieg Fry, who has been tracing the evolution of venom.
Cone snail shells are beautiful, but their venom is a potent cocktail used to paralyze passing fish. The venom is a witch's brew of hundreds of novel compounds, many more than are found in snake venom (which has been used by science extensively as well).
It's a dinosaur tooth, and clearly one that belonged to a predator - sharp and b
You can read this book review, or you can just go HERE and listen to our interview with author Christie Wilcox. I promise you in advance that you will want to read her book!
Well, I suppose that blows that whole "moving at a snail's pace" thing out of the water. That's pretty slick, though.
If you are really interested in this stuff, you should see if your department might be interested in inviting Baldomero ("Toto") Oilvera, the guru of cone snail venom, to give a seminar. He is a great speaker and a truly nice guy.
I'd love to see that in super-slow motion, with a digital clock running, so we could see for ourselves the harpoon speed and the venom speed.
Or, perhaps, invite the "The Great Kohnus" himself, Alan J. Kohn, prof emeritus of the U. Washington, upon whose research all of this is based. He is also a good speaker, and genuinely nice guy.