Scientists already know that the venom of cone snails, which prowl the ocean floor for a fish dinner, contains compounds that can be adapted as pharmaceuticals to treat chronic pain, diabetes and other human maladies. But ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Mar 23, 2022
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533
For millions of people with diabetes, insulin is essential medicine. But for some ocean-dwelling predators, insulin is a weapon. With a burst of venom, a fish-hunting cone snail can drop the blood sugar of its prey so precipitously ...
Biochemistry
Mar 15, 2022
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359
The painful toxins wielded by a giant Australian stinging tree are surprisingly similar to the venom found in spiders and cone snails, University of Queensland researchers have found.
Plants & Animals
Sep 16, 2020
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578
As predators go, cone snails are slow-moving and lack the typical fighting parts. They've made up for it by producing a vast array of fast-acting toxins that target the nervous systems of prey. A new study reveals that some ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 19, 2015
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957
A new report in the journal Nature unveils three of the first genomes from a vast, understudied swath of the animal kingdom that includes as many as one-quarter of Earth's marine species. By publishing the genomes of a leech, ...
Biotechnology
Dec 19, 2012
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1
(PhysOrg.com) -- First it was grapes, then cockroaches, and now snails have become the latest organism to generate electricity through an implanted biofuel cell. The process works similarly in all three situations: the electricity ...
(PhysOrg.com) -- It's "Waterworld" snail style: Ocean-dwelling snails that spend most of their lives floating upside down, attached to rafts of mucus bubbles.
Plants & Animals
Oct 10, 2011
4
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(PhysOrg.com) -- High-resolution videos of moving snails and slugs reveal the details of how snails get around on their own distinctive brand of slime.
Plants & Animals
Apr 7, 2011
1
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in Canada noticed pond snails spent around 10 percent of their time attached to the side of their tank with their tentacles partly withdrawn, their shells hanging away from their bodies, and with ...
Two scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have provided the first details about the mysterious flashes of dazzling bioluminescent light produced by a little-known sea snail.
Plants & Animals
Dec 15, 2010
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0
The word snail is a common name for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the mid adult stage. When the word snail is used in a general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails.
Snails lacking a shell or having only a very small one are usually called slugs. Snails that have a broadly conical shell that is not coiled or appears not to be coiled are usually known as limpets.
Snails can be found in a wide range of environments from ditches, deserts, and the abyssal depths of the sea. Although most people are familiar with terrestrial snails, land snails are in the minority. Marine snails have much greater diversity and a greater biomass. The great majority of snail species are marine. Numerous kinds can be found in fresh water and even brackish water. Many snails are herbivorous, though a few land species and many marine species are omnivores or predatory carnivores.
Snails that respire using a lung belong to the group Pulmonata, while those with gills form a paraphyletic group, in other words, snails with gills are divided into a number of taxonomic groups that are not very closely related. Snails with lungs and with gills have diversified widely enough over geological time that a few species with gills can be found on land, numerous species with a lung can be found in freshwater, and a few species with a lung can be found in the sea.
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