Geography cone snails – the deadliest

CONUS geographus, popularly called geography cone, have been valued for centuries by shell collectors for their extraordinary beauty. They grow to about 15 cm in length and have intricately patterned brown-and-white shells, which are highly prized by shell collectors.

It lives in the reefs of the tropical Indo-Pacific, and hunts small fish. Because cone snails are slow mov-

ing, they use a venomous harpoon to capture faster-moving prey, such as fish. The geography cone snail is the deadliest creature on Earth. Their venom is a complex mix of hundreds of different toxins that is delivered through a harpoon-like tooth propelled from an extendable proboscis. No antidote exists for a cone snail sting, and treatment is limited to merely keeping victims alive until the toxins wear off.

There are about 30 recorded instances of people being killed by cone snails. The first welldocumented

death was reported by Hugo Flecker. In June 1935, while on a pleasure cruise off the northeastern shore of Queensland, a twenty-seven year old man landed at Hayman Island, where he picked up a live geography cone snail, and holding it in his palm, proceeded to clean it with his knife. Pricked by the barb, his hand almost immediately became numb. Ten minutes later, there was a feeling of stiffness of the lips; after twenty minutes, his sight became blurred; after thirty minutes, his legs were paralyzed; and within the hour, the man became unconscious and slipped into a deep coma with a weak and rapid pulse, and slow, shallow respiration. Five hours after having been stung, he was dead. The shell that killed him is in the collection of the Queensland Museum. Scientists are now studying these neurotoxins from cone snails developing lifesaving drugs for various medical conditions including intense chronic pain, epilepsy, asthma and multiple sclerosis.