While catching fish cone snails use an original strategy: when they attack the victim, they inject a great amount of 'wrong' insulin into the surrounding water, which dramatically reduces the victim's blood glucose level, deprives the muscles of energy, thus constraining the victim by this way. This is stated in the article, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

On of the authors of research, Baldomero Olivera from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City says, this is a specific type of insulin. Its molecules are shorter than those of any other hormone variants that exist in the animal body.

Oliver and his colleagues have studied snails from Conus family for several years trying to understand how they manage to catch a much faster and more savvy prey - small marine fish.

They found that when the fish swims near the snail, the latter throws its "harpoon" which injects poison into the body of the victim. Future "lunch"  is instantly paralyzed, allowing the predator to find food and prosper.

During the experiment scientists removed and analyzed the DNA fragments of gastropods, responsible for the synthesis of the various components of the venom. In the extracts of venom, removed from the body of  shellfish, molecules like insulin were found.

Then researchers tested what happens to the fish when a large amount of this hormone appeares in the water where it lives. The effect was very clear and obvious - the insulin molecules appeared in the animal's blood and forced the organizm to reduce the level of sugar in the blood, thus depriving the brain and muscles of energy source. In fact, the fish falls into a coma and losts its  ability to move and respond, and that is the secret of success for the cone snails.

According to zoologists, mankind can use the "bioweapon" of snails in two ways. Firstly, such a strong version of  insulin can be used to test the sensitivity of  human body to sugar.

Second, the "battle" version of insulin is significantly shorter than all existing versions of this hormone in vertebrates, which gives hope that the "know-how" of cone snails can be used as the basis for new, cheaper and more efficient versions of therapeutic insulin.