Fang blennies are tiny, tropical fish with huge, terrifying fangs – that shoot out a toxic, drug-like venom.
The timid fish’s venom is a surprisingly potent cocktail packed with properties that act like heroin or morphine, according to a new study published in Current Biology.
If a predator were to try and eat up one of the fish, they would experience a sudden dizziness, causing them to either spit out the fish, or making their jaws and gills relax so much that the little blenny could swim right out. The latest research discovered the fang blennies shoot out the venom from their massive bottom fangs, unlike most poisonous fish, which deliver toxins through their fins.
The skull of the venomous species Meiacanthus grammistesAnthony Romilio
And when the researchers injected lab mice with the venom, the mice experienced zero pain. Rather, their blood pressure plummeted by 40 percent.
“For the fang blenny venom to be painless in mice was quite a surprise,” Bryan Fry, one of the study’s co-authors, said in a statement. “Fish with venomous dorsal spines produce immediate and blinding pain.”
Their venom, which includes opioid peptides and components found in the venom of cone snails and scorpions, is the only one of its kind to be discovered in nature. The unique makeup of the substance could potentially be used to develop new painkillers for humans.
Further, the research team noted that the fish is probably the only-known venomous creature that evolved to use venom as a defense, rather than trying to catch itself food.
In his statement, Fry added that the research team began the study on nothing more than “basic wonderment.”