14 DAY TRIAL // If we take into account the snails that come out after the rain, you would say about them only that they are cute, little vegetarians. The Italians, French and Spanish would say that they're delicious, too. But do not be fooled by the pacific life of the terrestrial snails. The marine ones can be in fact amongst the top predators of the sea. They may be relatively slow in movement, but they are armed with a harpoon like weapon (named toxoglossan radula, snails modified "tongue") injecting a deadly venom into their victims. The prey animals are stunned and paralyzed, an easy "victim" for the slow-moving snail.
This way, they can catch in a fraction of a second fish "for dinner". Some of these venoms are the most potent on the planet, like in the case of the predatory marine snail Conus magus. The cone snails (genus Conus) are found in tropical seas, in coral reefs. They can grow up to 23 cm in length and eat from marine worms, small fish, molluscs (clams and other marine snails, including other cone snails.
Its poison has a greater power than morphine, but it acts in an entirely different way. Some cone snails can kill a human being with their venom. The snail's venom targets proteins in cell membranes, functioning like gates for the calcium ions, permitting them to get in and out.
The "calcium channels" are involved in all kinds of neural processes, including the stimulation of the nerves transporting pain signals, but also in muscle contraction, heart pace-making and hormone release.
The snail venom impairs a particular type known as N-type calcium channels, crucial in determining some kinds of pain sensations.
The pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca has announced recently that it has developed a number of synthetic chemicals that also inhibit N-type calcium channels, decreasing pain. These new drugs could be employed to shut off persistent acute pain where other painkillers have not succeeded, or are not recommended, like in the case of patients with cancer or other very severe conditions.