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Killer catfish?
Name all the venomous animals you can think of and you probably come up with snakes, spiders, bees, wasps and perhaps poisonous frogs. But catfish?
A newly released study by University of Michigan graduate student Jeremy Wright finds that at least 1,250 and possibly more than 1,600 species of catfish appears to be venomous-far more than previously believed. The research is described in a paper published online Dec. 4 in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.
Lest anyone have concerns about attacks of killer catfish, rest assured that, at least in North America, these finned fatales use their venom mainly to defend themselves against predatory fish, though they can inflict a painful sting that a number of fishermen have suffered. In other parts of the world, some catfish do have extremely toxic venoms that can be deadly to humans.
Researchers have focused a great deal of attention of venom produced by snakes and spiders, but venomous fish had been largely neglected, said Wright, who used histological and toxicological techniques, as well as prior studies of evolutionary relationships among catfish species, to catalog the presence of venom glands and investigate their biological effects.
Catfish venom glands are found alongside sharp, bony spines on the edges of the dorsal and pectoral fins, and these spines can be locked into place when the catfish is threatened. When a spine jabs a potential predator, the membrane surrounding the venom gland cells is torn, releasing venom into the wound. In his paper, Wright describes how catfish venoms poison nerves and break down red blood cells, producing such effects as severe pain, reduced blood flow, muscle spasms and respiratory distress. However, because none of the species he examined produces more than three distinct toxins in its venom, each species probably displays only a subset of the whole repertoire of effects.........
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