raudy;93770 said:
venom? by saliva or seperate venom gland?
injecting? by saliva contact,pumped by water or squirted by a muscle-gland?
thanks
In "typical" species of octo and cuttle, the beak or radula makes a hole, and the venom/saliva is actively injected from the posterior salivary glands through the salivary duct and (at least in
O. vulgaris the salivary papilla. Nixon & Young describe a bit more about the system, but basically it squirts it into the hole under pressure. The venom/saliva also contains substances to soften the shell and detach the muscle/meat from the shell. I'm not sure if this system varies at all, but my impression is that it's pretty much conserved across the coleoids, I'm not sure about nautilus and Nixon & Young don't mention it in squids.