Ace the 2025 Paramedic National Registry Exam – Save Lives with Confidence and Style!

Coral snakes possess neurotoxins that can be dangerous to humans, leading to potentially severe symptoms such as paralysis and respiratory failure. Their venom attacks the nervous system directly, affecting the way signals are transmitted between nerves and muscles.

Pit vipers, on the other hand, primarily possess hemotoxins, which damage tissues and affect the blood. While pit viper bites can certainly be life-threatening and contribute to significant morbidity, especially due to their effects on the circulatory system, they do not primarily employ neurotoxins in the same manner that coral snakes do.

Given the question's focus on critters that possess neurotoxins that are dangerous to humans, coral snakes are the key concern. Although pit vipers can cause severe harm, particularly with their hemotoxic venom, the presence of neurotoxins is specifically attributed to coral snakes in this context. Hence, the correct identification highlights that coral snakes alone are known for their neurotoxic venom, while acknowledging that pit vipers have different types of venom that are dangerous in their own right but do not fit the specific criteria of neurotoxins. Thus, the choice that encapsulates both has been mischaracterized if pit vipers are included, making the subtleties important for understanding venom