Citation

Harris RJ, Jenner RA. Toxins (Basel) 2019; 11(2): e11020060.

Affiliation

Department of Life Sciences, the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD London, UK. r.jenner@nhm.ac.uk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/toxins11020060

PMID

30678265

Abstract

Research on venomous animals has mainly focused on the molecular, biochemical, and pharmacological aspects of venom toxins. However, it is the relatively neglected broader study of evolutionary ecology that is crucial for understanding the biological relevance of venom systems. As fish have convergently evolved venom systems multiple times, it makes them ideal organisms to investigate the evolutionary ecology of venom on a broader scale. This review outlines what is known about how fish venom systems evolved as a result of natural enemy interactions and about the ecological consequences of evolving a venom system. This review will show how research on the evolutionary ecology of venom in fish can aid in understanding the evolutionary ecology of animal venoms more generally. Further, understanding these broad ecological questions can shed more light on the other areas of toxinology, with applications across multiple disciplinary fields.

Language: en

Keywords

aposematism; coevolution; ecological niche; ecology; evolution; evolutionary ecology; fish; mimicry; natural enemy interactions; venom