Venomous fish

For toxins used to stun fish in the fishing practices of certain cultures, see Fish toxins.
The most venomous known fish is the reef stonefish. It is an ambush predator which waits camouflaged on the bottom.
The beautiful and highly visible lionfish uses venomous barbs around its body as a defence against predators.
The stargazer buries itself out of sight. It can deliver electric shocks as well as venom.
The stinger of a stingray

Venomous fish are species of fish which produce strong mixtures of toxins harmful to humans (called venom) which they deliberately deliver by means of a bite, sting, or stab, resulting in an envenomation. As a contrast, poisonous fish also produce a strong toxin, but they do not bite, sting, or stab to deliver the toxin, instead being poisonous to eat because the human digestive system does not destroy the toxin they contain in their bodies.[1] Venomous fish do not necessarily cause poisoning if they are eaten, as the digestive system often destroys the venom.[1]

There are at least 1200 species of venomous fish, [2][3] with catfishes alone possibly contributing 250–625 species to that total. [4] The former number accounts for two-thirds of the venomous vertebrate population.[5] There are more venomous fish than venomous snakes and indeed more than the combined total of all other venomous vertebrates.[2] Venomous fish are found in almost all habitats around the world, but mostly in tropical waters. Encounters with these species injure over 50,000 people every year.[6]

Venomous fishes carry their venom in venom glands and use various delivery systems, such as spines or sharp fins, barbs, spikes and fangs. The most common venom delivery system is via dorsal spines.[7] Venomous fish tend to be either very visible, using flamboyant colors to discourage predators from attacking them, or skillfully camouflaged and possibly buried in the sand. Apart from the value of improved self defense or capacity to kill prey, venom helps bottom dwelling fish by killing bacteria that could otherwise invade their skin. Few of these venoms have been studied. They are a yet-to-be tapped resource for bioprospecting to find drugs with medical uses.[3]

  1. ^ a b Poisonous vs. Venomous fish: What’s the difference? Reef Biosearch. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  2. ^ a b Smith WL and Wheeler WC (2006) "Venom Evolution Widespread in Fishes: A Phylogenetic Road Map for the Bioprospecting of Piscine Venoms" Journal of Heredity 97 (3):206-217.
  3. ^ a b Grady, Denise Venom Runs Thick in Fish Families, Researchers Learn New York Times 22 August 2006.
  4. ^ Wright, J. J. (2009). "Diversity, phylogenetic distribution, and origins of venomous catfishes". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 9: 282. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-9-282. PMC 2791775. PMID 19961571.
  5. ^ Sivan, Gisha (2009). "Fish venom: pharmacological features and biological significance". Fish and Fisheries. 10 (2): 159–172. Bibcode:2009AqFF...10..159S. doi:10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00309.x. ISSN 1467-2979.
  6. ^ Britt, Robert Roy (22 August 2006). "Venomous Fish Outnumber Snakes". LiveScience.
  7. ^ Smith, W. Leo; Stern, Jennifer H.; Girard, Matthew G.; Davis, Matthew P. (2016-11-01). "Evolution of Venomous Cartilaginous and Ray-Finned Fishes". Integrative and Comparative Biology. 56 (5): 950–961. doi:10.1093/icb/icw070. ISSN 1540-7063. PMID 27375272.