Science

Have You Seen the Snail That Captures Fish by Shooting a ‘Harpoon-Like Spear?’

Snails are often underrated as predators because they are slow-moving, but this cone snail has a surprising edge that allows it to catch agile fish while it hides out in the sand.

BBC reports that Conus geographus – the most venomous of the 640 poisonous species in the genus — shoots prey with a “harpoon-like spear” that contains more than 200 known toxins.

Cone Snail Captures Prey Using Paralyzing, Venom Laden Spear

This cone snail lurks, waiting for prey.

BBC has more from Howard Peters as he explains how the snail targets and kills its prey:

“Their venom — and the way they deliver it — is the most interesting thing,” he explains.

“What they tend to do is bury themselves in the sand and then use their sensors to detect when a sizeable fish comes along.

“They manufacture and store little hollow harpoons in a sac in their body, and they have another sac which synthesises venom.”

At this point, the snail “loads” the dart with venom and shoots its prey. BBC reports that the dart is used only once and the snail will eat it along with the prey.

Cone Snail Captures Prey Using Paralyzing, Venom Laden Spear

This photo illustrates the dart used to hit fish with paralyzing venom. (Photo via Deep Sea Bloggerhead)

Watch a cone snail shoot and eat a goatfish:

BBC goes on to note that the biomedical field has been researching the use of cone snail toxins as a pain-killer due to their nerve-blocking capabilities, as well as in potential treatments for diseases like Alzheimer‘s and Parkinson’s. Each cone snail species has an average 100 toxins, which BBC reports adds up to 50,000 different toxins in the genus.

[H/T GeekOSystem]

Comments (62)

  • nilo
    Posted on January 6, 2012 at 2:29pm

    The moral to this story is don’t get taken in by the Democrat party.

    Report Post » nilo  
  • ClunkerT
    Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:20am

    I would love to hear an evolutionist explain how this evolved! God has given us millions of examples of explicit design found in nearly every single creature on the face of the earth. That is why those that deny there is a God will be without excuse come judgment day. He may even call them fools (Psalm 14:1; 53:1)

    Report Post »  
  • Glenn Jericho
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 9:58pm

    It seems as though the Fabians chose the wrong mascot.

    Report Post »  
  • Discord
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 8:44pm

    Gastropods are some of my favorite animals, this is super cool. :)

    Report Post » Discord  
    • Ballot_Box_Revolution
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 9:33pm

      I found this out the hard way….I never thought a snail could be aggressive. I had a nice salt water aquarium, with some fish that I paid a decent amount of money for.

      One day I went to the beach and found a few snails, and brought them home for an addition to my tank. After that some of my clown fish and damsel fish started coming up dead. and missing….I thought maybe my snowflake eel was starting to get aggressive, he had not bothered any of my fish before…why now? I did research and found out that the snails I brought home were aggressive.

      Report Post » Ballot_Box_Revolution  
  • TDC
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:41pm

    Kinda funny how they positioned this story right next to Meghan McCain story…..

    Report Post »  
  • txjb
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:26pm

    Isn’t our creator God awsome ?

    Report Post »  
  • democritusoilder267
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 5:26pm

    This is very cool. Show you how evolution is very awesome.

    Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • BOMUSTGO
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 6:12pm

      There is no proof of any evolution.No fossil evidence of any creature in a transformative stage.

      Report Post » BOMUSTGO  
    • scott2012
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 6:52pm

      What if adaptation and “evolution” are the most intelligent parts of intelligent design???

      Report Post »  
    • democritusoilder267
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 6:58pm

      There is tons of evidence for evolution. Check out this website and then try to prove me wrong.
      http://www.talkorigins.org/

      Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • BOMUSTGO
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:05pm

      http://www.s8int.com/

      Report Post » BOMUSTGO  
    • democritusoilder267
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 9:08pm

      The website does present good points. But when you look at all the evidence and pictures you will see that it just mumbojumbo. Here is a good refute of the first picture in your like “According to many UFO enthusiasts, the Temple of Osiris at Abydos contains definitive proof of advanced ancient technology. The glyphs seem to include depictions of a helicopter, a jet plane and some sort of flying saucer. Unfortunately for believers, the glyphs are a result of erosion and actual replacement and re-carving of hieroglyphics. The original text is part of the titulary of Seti I, that had been changed to reference Ramsses II. Modifying and defacing inscriptions was common in ancient Egypt’s history, and in this case yielded some strange-looking results.” There is much more in the link.
      http://listverse.com/2010/07/06/10-human-creations-attributed-to-aliens/

      Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • democritusoilder267
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 9:09pm

      Noah‘s Flood was also based off of the Epic of Gilgamesh and many other similar legends before the writing of Noah’s Ark in Genesis.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh

      Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • icecreamcake
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 10:11am

      @democritusoldier

      The link you provided still does not prove the “theory” of evolution. There are still no current transitional forms. All of the examples there are fossilized guesses at what each animal was. If evolution were true, there would still be transitional forms today as they “evolve.”

      Report Post »  
    • democritusoilder267
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 11:16am

      Trust me there is tons of evidence.
      http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/search/topics.php?topic_id=14

      Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • icecreamcake
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 11:55am

      @ Democritusoldier

      Once again, the link you provided does not show any current transitional forms, tries to use micro-evolution as a basis for macro-evolution, and carbon dating is inaccurate.

      According to that website, the earth is 4.5 billion years old, and it took 3.9 billion years for animals to start to evolve. The timeline stats that until about 600 million years ago the earth was dominated by microbes. So it took 3.9 billion years for microbes to evolve into animals, but only 600 million for those small rodent animals to become human. An even smaller time per each evolving of each animal. That means that a total of only 13% of the earths existence has been occupied by complex organisms. and even less to develop humans who are vastly superior to any other animal. How is it possible to take so long for a micro organism to become a small rodent like animal, but take so little time to become a human. The comparison of a rodent vs a micro organism is not as large as the comparison between a rodent and a human.

      If evolution were actually true, we would still have current transitional forms. One chart showed the similarities between whales and camels, but yet there are no transitional forms between the two. Evolution is a theory.

      Report Post »  
    • democritusoilder267
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 12:37pm

      I offered the evidence and still you refuse to see and continue searching. Do you know what the term “theory” means in science.
      http://www.fsteiger.com/theory.html
      http://wilstar.com/theories.htm
      “Creationists make it sound like a ‘theory’ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night” — Isaac Asimov The links I posed will help you with anything relating to evolution and evolution thought. The evidence is in the links. Just read, read and read. I wouldn’t accept evolution as fact if I never studied all the evidence and understood biology. I can say I’m not a genius or an expert in biology but what I have read that evolution is supportive by all kinds of evidence.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence_of_common_descent
      You’re looking for evidence of common descent. This is a good link from Wikipedia.

      Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • icecreamcake
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 1:36pm

      @ democritusoilder

      You didn’t offer the evidence. There were no living transitional forms presented in those websites.

      I understand that theories in science are different from the normal meaning for theory but just like the article you posted says, theories are explanations which interpret facts.

      If all animals are living things are descended from a common ancestor (common descent), then why can they not reproduce together? Species can only reproduce within themselves.

      Also, what about the laws of thermodynamics? Please explain how evolution does not violate the 2nd law.

      Report Post »  
    • democritusoilder267
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 2:20pm

      I want to make sure you’re reading the links I have been using. All the answers are in the links I have used. The first link from Talk Origins answer your question about 2nd thermodynamics.

      “Doesn’t evolution violate the second law of thermodynamics? After all, order cannot come from disorder.”

      “Evolution does not violate the second law of thermodynamics. Order emerges from disorder all the time. Snowflakes form, trees grow, and embryos develop, etc.” They give these two links that will answer the question.
      http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/thermo.html
      http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-misconceptions.html#thermo

      Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • icecreamcake
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 3:31pm

      @democritusoilder

      I read the links you provided. None of them showed a current living transitional form. All were fossilized.

      First off, the second link. Life is a closed system. What it failed to take into account is that the universe, not the earth is the closed system. So the sun would be included in this system.

      “Evolution does not violate the second law of thermodynamics. Order emerges from disorder all the time. Snowflakes form, trees grow, and embryos develop, etc.” That is not the second law of thermodynamics, that is the first. “Energy can be transformed, i.e. changed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed.” Embryos, which was the most complicated of the examples given, grow because food is metabolized and used as energy.

      The second website I believe is correct for the most part but his last paragraph is the major key. “Answer: the question is meaningless, because none of the patterns is an ensemble; all are possible individual microstates of some unspecified ensemble.”

      I don’t understand the second link because he seems to praise Boltzmann, however Boltzmann is the one responsible for relating entropy and disorder.

      Report Post »  
    • icecreamcake
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 3:47pm

      @ democritussoilder

      I apologize, I didn’t mean to put the next to last paragraph. I changed the point I was going to make and forgot to delete it.

      The biggest problem I have with evolution is the plain explanation of why. For example lets take the snail in the article. Assuming the snail started as a normal snail, how did “it” figure out that shooting other beings with a venom filled barb would catch its prey? It had no other examples to follow. How did it “know” the tooth it was going to shoot out had to be hollow?

      The same argument goes for any animal. How did a whale realize that it wanted to be out of the water? It isn’t self aware, so it couldn’t rationalize that there were other areas outside of the water. There was literally no reason for it to leave the water, because it had everything it needed. If it didn’t have everything it needed, there wouldn’t be any whales left because they would all have realized that.

      This can even be applied to the basic of living things, the micro-organism. It obviously doesn’t have the capacity to reason or think. Like animals, it acts out of instinct. So what would cause it to turn into something else? It had no way of thinking, “gee I’d like to do something else other than sit here.”

      Humans are the only living things on earth that are self aware. How is that possible when nothing else is? What happened in evolution that caused us to be able to reason and think for ourselves instead of jus

      Report Post »  
    • democritusoilder267
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 3:56pm

      What I find interesting is how we can see something like evolution and see it completely different. I do not have all the answers and I know it isn’t by chance. Just put yourself in my shoes. See why I favor evolution. Evolution doesn’t mean the origin of life; just how life adapted. The links I provided has loads of information for anyone interested in evolution biology. Do it at your own pace. Any question you have the answer should already be there. I’m a Deist who believes in a God. I know evolution doesn’t need creation or God to come about but I still believe.

      Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • icecreamcake
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 4:09pm

      @democritusoilder

      I don’t deny micro evolution exists. I think we called it adaptation when I was a kid in grade school. Macro evolution however, goes against what God divinely inspired in the Bible.

      Report Post »  
    • democritusoilder267
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 4:51pm

      I do not believe in the bible. Since to me the bible is inspired by man not some God.

      Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • icecreamcake
      Posted on January 6, 2012 at 5:39pm

      @democritusoilder

      What do you believe caused the universe to exist?

      Report Post »  
    • democritusoilder267
      Posted on January 7, 2012 at 2:17am

      Well, as a Deist I believe that a god created the universe. My view of creationism goes hand and hand with all science. My parents were Muslim and my dad’s parents were Christian. So, I know a lot about different religions view of god and creation.

      Report Post » democritusoilder267  
  • hnuh
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 4:54pm

    learned something new… darn it.

    Report Post »  
    • Cesium
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 5:26pm

      you must be a bible thumper

      Report Post »  
    • AndySchmandy
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 6:44pm

      @Cesium- And you must be a marine biologist for already knowing about this little guy. So wise! We are all a little better off for reading your insightful comment. Thank you.

      Report Post » AndySchmandy  
  • gmoneytx
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 4:32pm

    A very slow reading story…about a snail. Get it!

    Report Post » gmoneytx  
  • SemperFiWife
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 4:29pm

    I live in Okinawa and they have those things here. They are no joke! Even though the “fish dreams” was funny.

    Report Post »  
    • BOMUSTGO
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 4:44pm

      When I was just an Airmen in Okinawa, I remember driving our six passenger truck, with our crew, to a job site in the bomb dump and there was a snail as big as a baseball in the road, I swerved a little on purpose and heard a loud CRUNCH noise, my supervisor looked at me and said,”Nice one!”.We made a game at running over these snails and the deadly Habu snakes.

      Report Post » BOMUSTGO  
  • BOMUSTGO
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 4:02pm

    Obama must outlaw these deadly snails!

    Report Post » BOMUSTGO  
  • jedi.kep
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 4:01pm

    Hey! It’s what Obama and Progressives are doing to the country! Keep sleeping little fish. Keep right on sleeping….

    Report Post » jedi.kep  
  • FreeUsAll
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 3:42pm

    If you did get nailed by one, there would be little pain, at least, as the venom contains a pain-killer 1000 times more powerful than morphine. According to researched sources, the deaths from cone snails ranges from 15 to 30.

    Report Post » FreeUsAll  
    • V-MAN MACE
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 3:55pm

      This cone snail is deadly and awesome, but the pistol shrimp is also awesome.

      The pistol shrimp actually creates bubble fusion…getting as hot as the surface of the sun, and can shoot animals with it!

      We need to replicate the large claw of the pistol shrimp for weapons and energy production.

      Report Post » V-MAN MACE  
    • WeekendAtBernankes
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 4:16pm

      We must close the proboscis gap!

      Report Post » WeekendAtBernankes  
  • redgypsy
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 3:37pm

    Is there actually enough venom to harm a human?

    Report Post »  
    • jchild314
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 4:41pm

      I was stung by one and let me assure you, I thought I was dead!!! Felt like battery acid from my toe to hip, worse pain ever!! Darn little sucker!!!!!

      Report Post »  
    • Chuck Stein
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 4:43pm

      Cone shell snails kill people. I don’t know about this particular species.

      Report Post »  
  • Guringo
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 3:32pm

    Have you seen the headline that’ll lull you in with lies?

    Report Post »  
  • lukerw
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 3:28pm

    Mmmmm… Escargot!

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • PureDrumFury
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 3:04pm

    This aggression will not stand, man.

    Report Post »  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 2:58pm

    .
    HELL!!! I could shoot a fish, being held by a pair of tweezers. Let’s see that snail, do that to a Free Range Gold Fish…..

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
    • sndrman
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:51pm

      “free range” or if you like an “organic fish” free range just sounded so cool…..

      Report Post »  
  • cessna152
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 2:45pm

    This story is nothing compared to the blood sucking leaches on land that steal freedom without us even knowing…

    Report Post » cessna152  
  • Doctor Nordo
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 2:44pm

    Way cooler animal right here. The Pistol Shrimp. Could kick this snail’s ass!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_shrimp

    Report Post » Doctor Nordo  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 2:39pm

    How can it tell that a fish is sleeping?

    Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
  • Rowgue
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 2:33pm

    They don’t actually shoot out harpoons like the article makes it sound though. The poison barbs are stuck into the fish once it’s already been swallowed up by the snail.

    Report Post »  
  • beckisnutsisnuts
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 2:32pm

    Yes, and I‘m sure it ’evolved’ all those toxins over millions of years of evolution to become the killer it is today! LOL evolutionists are soooooo funnnyyyyyy!!!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • Psychosis
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 2:27pm

    lets send a dozen to oblamo

    Report Post » Psychosis  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on January 5, 2012 at 2:18pm

    These critters are as impressive as they are absolutly deadly; get hit by one and its bye-bye before you even hit the floor.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love