OLogy Cards > cone snail

The oceans are filled with creatures that use poison to survive. Some use chemical defenses to deter predators. Others, like cone snails, use poison to capture prey. Cone snails paralyze their prey with nerve-blocking toxins. Fatal to the cone snail's victims, these same toxins can be used by humans in a variety of medicines—from pain relievers to treatments for epilepsy, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease.