Bryan Fry's goal is to collect, study, and catalog the chemical characteristics of venom from sea snakes.

A textile cone hunts other snails. Its proboscis contains a harpoon, loaded with a powerful venom called conotoxin. It paralyzes its prey so it can be sucked from its shell and devoured.

High concentrations of mercury, a neurotoxin that can damage developing brains in fetuses, are found in some kinds of popular fish such as albacore tuna.

With its fascinating coloring and delicate curling arms, the blue-ringed octopus may be a beautiful creature, but this small cephalopod is also deadly.

One of the most promising new venom-derived drugs actually comes from a very modest-looking sea snail.