Octopus Venom Offers Surprises and Hope from the Cold Depths

The world's oceans will undoubtedly tempt the curious, rewarding them with unimaginable surprise and discovery for years to come. One might successfully argue that we more clearly comprehend aspects of far reaches of outer space than we do what goes on right here on and beneath the nearly three quarters of the Earth's surface covered by water.

Miles-deep water offers no sunlight while it imposes enormous pressures too extreme for us to safely explore, but bit by bit our persistence pays dividends in the form of astonishing new findings, furthering our understanding of the marine realm and the life within it.

As we're reminded in a press release issued by The University of Melbourne in Australia, it has only been within the last year that marine scientists have discovered that all varieties of the octopus are venomous. A fresh set of findings arising from exploration of the waters near Antarctica suggest that there's far more, and perhaps something of medical benefit, to the story.

Scientists have for several years been puzzled by the precise biochemical attributes that allow creatures to have successfully adapted to life in sub-zero conditions. In addition to the discovery of four previously unknown species of Antarctic octopi, a team of researchers from University of Melbourne, the Norwegian University of Technology and Science and the University of Hamburg have uncovered surprises about the venom these multi-armed mollusks possess.

Research team leader Bryan Fry of Melbourne's Bio21 Institute explains that "we have discovered new small proteins in the venom with very intriguing activities – these are potentially useful in drug design," but precisely how, and exactly what diseases they may be appropriately adapted to the development of treatment may only be revealed through follow-up study he adds.

Softpedia.com, which reports on the findings notes that the team's efforts represent the first successful collection of venom samples from Antarctic octopi, and that compounds they contain were previously unknown to us. Softpedia quotes Dr. Fry as positing the possible medical knowledge that may arise as research moves forward from these new discoveries, and through those that are certain to follow:

"An understanding of the structure and mode of action of venom found in all octopuses may help design drugs for conditions like pain management, allergies and cancer. Not only do Antarctic octopuses have the most unique venoms out there, but there is a lot more species than we originally thought."

Photo by IES-MGB via Flickr.