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Small, colorful ocean creatures containing deadly chemicals that are harnessed against enemies are called sea slugs. Five related species of nudibranchs, or sea-slugs, were studied in order to find out their toxicity, according to a study by the University of Queensland.

"Science has known that many sea slugs obtain toxins from what they are eating, such as sponges," said Dr. Karen Cheney, coauthor of the study. "But in our study, we found they selected only one toxin to store a particularly toxic compound called Latrunculin A."

Even as toxicity tests showed that very small amounts of the compound killed brine shrimp, researchers found that the compound was toxic to cancer cell line, compared to compounds in other kinds of sea slugs.

It is the bright colors and chemical defenses that throw warning signals to their predators, somewhat like "poison dart frogs and colorful butterflies", whose colors also beam their toxicity.

"We are investigating whether the most brightly colored sea slugs are the most toxic and also whether cryptic sea slugs, that blend in with their environment also contain strong toxic defenses," said Cheney.

The toxins can help to conduct new cancer research, believe scientists.

The findings of this study were published in PLOS One.