Toxic snail puts fish in a sugar coma, then eats them
Cone snails are notorious for stinging scuba divers tempted to pick up their beautiful shells. But the geographic cone snail (Conus geographus)-the most venomous cone snail of all, with several human deaths under its belt-takes its practice of poisoning to a whole new level. The tropical sluggard kills by overdosing fish with a toxic cloud containing insulin. Plummeting blood sugar levels throw the victims into a stupor.
Once the fish are in a sugar coma, the cone snail reaches out with what's called a false mouth-it looks like it's throwing a cape over its prey-and drags a stupefied animal into its mouth. The snail then stings the fish with another set of toxins, just to make sure its victim is completely paralyzed. Other compounds in cone snail venom produce similar results, but no other animal that researchers know of-except perhaps people-uses insulin to kill like this.
Once the fish are in a sugar coma, the cone snail reaches out with what's called a false mouth-it looks like it's throwing a cape over its prey-and drags a stupefied animal into its mouth. The snail then stings the fish with another set of toxins, just to make sure its victim is completely paralyzed. Other compounds in cone snail venom produce similar results, but no other animal that researchers know of-except perhaps people-uses insulin to kill like this.