![]() Studying venom variation, and the processes that regulate it, could aid in tapping into the vast amount of venom peptide diversity that has evolved within the genus Conus. Other venomous animals such as snakes and scorpions have been shown to exhibit variation due to diet or hunting strategy –. These instances of variation might be explained by stochastic, genetic as well as individual differences in age, size, or geographic location. Interspecies venom variation is also well established and recent studies have demonstrated that intraspecific variation exists in the composition of prey-injected venom peptides from several fish-hunting species –. It is widely accepted that each feeding group, if not each species, has its own set of unique venom profiles used to target the species' prey. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.ĭuring the last 50 million years, cone snails (genus Conus) have evolved into hundreds of species with prey preferences that generally fall within three categories: fish-hunters, worm-hunters, and mollusc-hunters. Schulz Howard Hughes Medical Institute Award for Undergraduate Research to Occidental College Science Scholars Program at Occidental College. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.įunding: This work was supported by the following sources: NIH 1R15NS059024 awarded to J.R. Received: DecemAccepted: Published: June 18, 2014Ĭopyright: © 2014 Prator et al. PLoS ONE 9(6):Įditor: Frederique Lisacek, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Switzerland Changes in venom composition during hunting may represent a multi-step strategy utilized by these venomous animals to slow and incapacitate prey prior to engulfment.Ĭitation: Prator CA, Murayama KM, Schulz JR (2014) Venom Variation during Prey Capture by the Cone Snail, Conus textile. While it is unclear why mollusc-hunting cone snails inject prey multiple times prior to engulfment, our study establishes for the first time a link between this behavior and compositional changes of the venom during prey capture. The qualitative results obtained by MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry are mirrored by quantitative changes in venom composition observed by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography. textile individuals alter the composition of prey-injected venom peptides during single feeding events. textile individuals, allowing us to investigate venom compositional variation during prey capture. ![]() We have successfully obtained multiple injected venom samples from C. While studies on the venom peptides injected by fish-hunting cone snails have become common, these approaches have not been widely applied to the analysis of the injected venoms from mollusc-hunters. The venom of the textile shell is very toxic and the sting is known to have caused human fatalities.Observations of the mollusc-hunting cone snail Conus textile during feeding reveal that prey are often stung multiple times in succession. Behaviorįollow this link to additional information about cone snails. At this time they are about 1.5 mm (0.06 in) in length. The larvae remain pelagic for about 16 days, then settle onto substrate. The few eggs that survive to hatch do so in about 16 to 17 days. The textile cone’s egg capsules contain 500-700 eggs each The capsules are laid under rocks. It is known to be cannibalistic if other food is scarce. This cone is a molluscivore, a mollusk eater. The average length of these animals is 9.0 cm (3.5 in). The background color is some variation of white or bluish white, with light to dark brown or yellowish overlapping textile markings, and three yellowish or brown interrupted spiral bands. The color and pattern of this beautiful cone is highly variable. ![]() There are slight spiral ridges near the base of the shell, and the rest is smooth. The body whorl is convex with rounded or slightly angled shoulders. This marine cone snail has a highly glossy, heavy shell and a short spine with straight or slightly concave sides. The textile cone lives in the sand beneath coral and rocks in shallow waters. ![]() Throughout the Indo-Pacific region, Australia, and the Indian Ocean from eastern Africa to Hawaii and French Polynesia. This species is not currently on exhibit at the Aquarium. CLIMATE CHANGE: Not Applicable At the Aquarium
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