The aim of this study was to illustrate the breadth of venom evolution in cnidarians and to determine if venom toxins have been co-opted and modified for parasitic lifestyles. Samples representing cnidarian taxa with entirely parasitic life cycles (myxozoans), entirely free-living life cycles, and a life cycle containing both parasitic and free-living stages (P. hydriforme). were obtained for analysis, which comprised of comparative transcriptomics, proteomics and the use of a custom bioinformatics pipeline developed to screen and identify toxins within these datasets.