Therapeutic Potential of Marine Zootoxins: Invertebrate Toxins

This chapter deals with the therapeutic potential of marine zootoxins, namely sponge toxins, cnidarian toxins, TTX of flatworms, TTX of ribbon worms, annelid toxins, crustacean toxins, molluskan toxins, and echinoderm toxins. Several species of marine invertebrates are known for their toxic secretions that are complex mixtures comprising poisons, venoms, and toxungens ( Rodrigo et al., 2021 ). Invertebrates with poisons lack a delivery mechanism, that is, ingested, inhaled, or absorbed across the body surface; toxungenous invertebrates on the other hand deliver their toxins to the body surface of another animal without an accompanying wound; and venomous animals deliver their toxins to the internal tissues of another animal via the creation of a wound (Nelson et al., 2014).