title: Acquisition and use of nematocysts by cnidarian predators.
abstract: Although toxic, physically destructive, and produced solely by cnidarians, nematocysts are acquired, stored, and used by some predators of cnidarians. Despite knowledge of this phenomenon for well over a century, little empirical evidence details the mechanisms of how (and even why) these organisms use organelles of cnidarians. However, in the past 20 years a number of published experimental investigations address two of the fundamental questions of nematocyst acquisition and use by cnidarian predators: (1) how are cnidarian predators protected from nematocyst discharge during feeding; and (2) how are the nematocysts used by the predator?
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901, USA. pggreenw@colby.edu
authors.forename: Paul G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Greenwood
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003063:Cnidaria / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D003064:Cnidarian Venoms / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D009093:Mucus / Q000502:physiology; D015388:Organelles / Q000378:metabolism; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D003064:Cnidarian Venoms