World's Most Venomous Crustacean Found in Australia

Researchers have found a first-of its-kind venomous crustacean in Australia.

The remipede is a blind animal and lives in underwater caves in the Caribbean, Canary Islands and Western Australia. Scientists found that Speleonectes tulumensis- a remipede- has a lethal venom. The venom is a cocktail of toxic chemicals that can turn its prey into pulp.

The venomous centipede-like crustacean was discovered by a team of researchers led by the Natural History Museum.

Crustaceans include lobsters, crabs, crayfish, shrimp and copepods. These animals form a large group under arthropods.

"While they can be as varied as tiny waterfleas, krill, crabs and barnacles, not one of the approximately 70,000 described species of crustaceans was known, until now, to be venomous," said Jenner. He described the organism with Dr Bjoern von Reumont, who is also a zoologist at the Museum.

According to Jenner, few crustaceans evolved to become predators. The only other animal of this group that hunts is the mantis shrimp. It beats its prey to death.

Researchers found that a neurotoxin in the venom of this centipede is similar to that of a spider neurotoxin.

"This venom is clearly a great adaptation for these blind cave-dwellers that live in nutrient-poor underwater caves," said Dr Ronald Jenner, a zoologist at the Museum and a lead author of the study.

Remipede was originally thought of as an insect. But the creature has proven to be "weirder than we thought' and 'how we use a blind cave-dweller to look at the evolution of insects is even more of a headache," Jenner said in a news release.

The study is published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.