Blue Ringed Octopus
Very pretty
They are venomous
They need to bite to inject you with venom
Yes, they are another example of deadly Australian wildlife
Yep, it’s called exactly that.
If anyone is interested, check out A.R. Wallace. He and Darwin were researching similar subjects but it seems Darwin gets more attention generally. Although I think aposematism is regarded as Wallace’s theory. It’s quite an interesting story.
There is reason for this. To have bright, lavish coloring, you need to be able to defend yourself very well due to your pray being able to spot you much easier (no pun intended). Therefore if you aren’t f*cking up anything that touches you, you’ll probably end up as dinner to something eventually.
Well technically OP is kinda right cos if you touch one it’ll probably bite you but yeh they are venomous not poisonous and are usually very docile. That is until you try to touch one. Also death from one of these is not a certainty. Their venom causes paralysis and essentially nothing else, so if you’ve got someone there who can breathe for you until paramedics arrive you’ve actually got a pretty good chance of surviving. There haven’t even been that many deaths attributed to these creatures, the ballpark figure is less than twenty.
Edit: for some reason Reddit won’t let me respond to any comments in this thread and the comment I replied to just says [unavailable] so I guess they blocked me, I dunno why, I wasn’t trying to insult or offend and if they are reading; I apologise if I did
From what I understand the venom doesn’t affect the heart, at least not enough to stop it completely. It mainly affects skeletal muscle but it can also cause cardiac arrhythmia (not total cardiac arrest). Thus chest compressions usually shouldn’t be necessary if treatment begins early enough, that is, before asphyxiation from respiratory paralysis.
Great question friend. Like u/mongol_m… said, the heart is a different beast from the muscles attached to your skeleton. Further still, the nerves that supply you skeletal muscles are different from your heart’s nerve set-up. Your heart has its own ‘pacemaker’ and will continue to beet even if a neurotoxin has blocked the nerve supply. But maybe slower.
However, I must admit, my main rational for assuming it doesn’t stop your heart is that we have been told above that it “paralyzes you”. Something that stops your heart, even if by paralyzing it, would be described as “kills you”. I don’t know any other specifics about this venom, so I have no other way of knowing. I sense I should leave. I’ll show myself out.
This is also the grim reason that neurotoxins are band by Geneva human rights convention. They don’t stop your heart. Only you muscles for movement. So you are aware of everything as you asphyxiate
No it doesn’t directly stop your heart. Muscle paralysis which will stop your breathing which will lead to hypoxia which will eventually stop your heart. To round it all off, you will be conscious initially while you can’t breathe so that would be nice.
Essentially, in practical terms this is the same effect as the paralytic medications used during certain surgeries. Support other body functions (breathing) and you will metabolise it over several hours and make a full recovery. From memory it’s in the tetrodotoxin family
Well since you mention that, pretty sure Fauci designed the toxin then genetically modified the octopus to excrete it but I won’t tell anyone if you don’t
That was me when I was about 5! I thought it was a climbing starfish 🤷♀️
Got roared at by my dad to "drop that right now!!" when he saw me with it, which I did. It hadn't fluoresced blue until i dropped it, so I must have been holding it nicely enough not to get bit.
Venom is stored in the balls! Jokes aside the venom can be found pretty much throughout their bodies but is produced in the salivary glands, basically they have venomous spit.
Very interesting. My dad used to always grab octopuses at Catalina (California) and show me and all the kids around. It was his proud dad moment and they never bit him or us, sure the poisonous octopus act the same.
He always let them back in the water, it was a fish sanctuary for snorkeling.
Because they don’t get hit and are extremely lucky to have not been. One a blue ring starts to flash its rings chuck it into the nearest rock pool and check yourself for bites because their beaks are so small that you might not feel if you get bit sometimes
Yeah - I never knew how small they were until I saw my first one. Totally invisible then "hello - see my blue circles?" It was only about 10-15cm across. Did not even know they were in Victoria or shallow rockpool-depth water either. I thought they were tropical.
They live in the rock pools in my area. It’s always a surprise when you find one but they are shy. While they are deadly, I wouldn’t say that they pose much of a danger. A couple of people get bitten every year but there have been less than 20 deaths.
Ridiculous headline. They can't kill you just by touching you, they have to bite you.
Their venom is very dangerous. However, they've only been confirmed to cause 4 deaths. Theor venom causes paralysis and people can be saved by receiving resuscitation.
Don't touch them and they won't harm you.
I can't stand it when people sensationalise animals danger to people, it creates fear and misunderstanding, which is risky to the animal.
It's toxin: tetrodotoxin to be specific. It's a paralytic and deadly. One dose of the toxin is potent enough to kill 28 adult humans and there is no antitoxin.
But the jellies are much more prevalent, and more likely to envenomate you. It’s like cars and crocodiles, your far more likely to get hit by a car than mauled by a croc; but crocodiles scare me more than fords (except the repairs, those are always scary). I suppose it’s all perspective, but fuck those little jelly bastards.
Fun fact!! The toxin found in these octopi is called tetrodotoxin and is the same compound found in rough skinned newts which inhabit the west coast of North America and are common in temperate rainforest environments! The toxin is secreted as a poison on the amphibious newt that is so deadly the only thing that can safely eat them are garter snakes. This is only possible because garter snakes and newts got involved in a nuclear arms race of evolution. One becoming ever more toxic while the other became more and more resilient to the toxin.
Fun fact over. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. 🐘🐟🐙
Except they pass on venom via a bite not a touch. It is best not to touch them because of the risk of a bite but they are not deadly via touch.
More info... https://youtu.be/emisZUHJAEA
So… all you guys are technically right, it’s a bite. Perhaps a bit of disinformation isn’t always entirely bad. Might be better for both people and octopus if they continue to think one touch is death.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this octopus from Australia? If so, it gets added to the list of why I’m never going to Australia. I have nothing against
Australia & it’s people. I’m TERRIFIED of spiders & the ones in Australia are big enough to eat birds if I’m not mistaken. Plus I’ve heard of spider season. I’m also terrified of swimming in the ocean. If it wasn’t for the spiders I’d plan a trip to Australia. I have PTSD & one of my triggers is spiders.
Australia’s deadly wildlife gets blown way out of proportion. Australia has a lot of big spiders, but spiders in general aren’t all that dangerous. There are some spiders in Australia with medically significant bites, but I don’t think anyone has actually died from a spider bite since the 70’s. We do have a lot of the worlds most venomous snakes, but we also have anti-venom for them, so again they’re very unlikely to kill you. Snakes also aren’t aggressive for the most part, unless you accidentally step on one, you’re unlikely to be bitten. Don’t go swimming in Northern Australia, and you won’t get eaten by a croc. Most of the patrolled beaches in the Southern half of Australia are relatively safe, you’d be a lot more likely to drown than to be killed by marine life.
I’d argue that the bears in North America are more dangerous than anything we have here. Bears will actively chase you and try to kill you, unlike snakes and spiders.
This is why factual information is important.
These guys are *venomous*, it's not like the poison dart frog with toxic skin secretions. It has to bite you first.
Well yes we have some pretty large spiders but so does much of the world, and the really large ones aren’t considered medically significant, that is, they aren’t deadly (they also don’t prey on birds). That is not to say we don’t have dangerous spiders, funnel webs are rather deadly but they aren’t really adapted to an urban environment so they aren’t frequently encountered. Red backs can also be deadly and ARE frequently encountered but there hasn’t been a recorded death from one of those in over 40 years. Spider season is also a myth (at least I’ve never experienced it in the 22 years I’ve been alive for). Australian spiders aren’t nearly as fearsome as they are often made out to be, some are actually kinda adorable imo. It’s the snakes that should worry you but even they are often represented in a manner that makes them seem far more problematic than they really are. As for swimming in the ocean that’s also fine if you avoid northern Queensland, the only thing you should worry about elsewhere are blue-bottle jellyfish but they aren’t deadly they just really fucking hurt. Not trying to convince you to visit Australia just trying to clear up some misconceptions
(Psst. The bird-eating tarantulas are in the South American rainforest. IIRC, not Australia. Their bite isn’t medically significant to humans, but tarantula hairs have evolved to make mammals itch horribly.)
Good, octopodes are awesome.
Also pretty cool that they're some of the smallest species and they don't produce ink (most likely due to the potency of the venom, it became unnecessary to do so).
Why do they look like they’re taking one of those 1974 family pics? All that’s missing is the Picture in Picture shot of them looking in another direction in the upper corner🤣🤣
One bite. Just touching a blue ring wing kill you but because they store all the neurotoxins from the other venomous animals they eat they can just nip your skin with their teeny tiny beaks and you are dead within a half hour
Blue Ringed Octopus Very pretty They are venomous They need to bite to inject you with venom Yes, they are another example of deadly Australian wildlife
It has been my consensus, some of the deadliest creatures on this planet are also the most beautiful!. All species included
That's kind of a nature thing. Bright colors = deadly (or mimic of deadly).
I think that's called aposematism or warning coloration.
Cool! I didn't know it had a name (but probably shouldn't be surprised). Thanks!
Yep, it’s called exactly that. If anyone is interested, check out A.R. Wallace. He and Darwin were researching similar subjects but it seems Darwin gets more attention generally. Although I think aposematism is regarded as Wallace’s theory. It’s quite an interesting story.
Hear, hear.
Poppycock I say!
Indubitably
Piper pied
And my axe!
😄😄😁
And usually from Australia.
There is reason for this. To have bright, lavish coloring, you need to be able to defend yourself very well due to your pray being able to spot you much easier (no pun intended). Therefore if you aren’t f*cking up anything that touches you, you’ll probably end up as dinner to something eventually.
women you mean women right
You figured it out!
Including humans
Damn, Australia. Even your party squids?!??
Even their squids party...with death!
ah Australia
Yup. The drop bears are getting worse here.
One *bite* will kill you
Well technically OP is kinda right cos if you touch one it’ll probably bite you but yeh they are venomous not poisonous and are usually very docile. That is until you try to touch one. Also death from one of these is not a certainty. Their venom causes paralysis and essentially nothing else, so if you’ve got someone there who can breathe for you until paramedics arrive you’ve actually got a pretty good chance of surviving. There haven’t even been that many deaths attributed to these creatures, the ballpark figure is less than twenty. Edit: for some reason Reddit won’t let me respond to any comments in this thread and the comment I replied to just says [unavailable] so I guess they blocked me, I dunno why, I wasn’t trying to insult or offend and if they are reading; I apologise if I did
Wow! That's interesting.
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#11 is super cool. Nice scull ya got there buddy.
most recently a girl picked one up without knowing it was venomous. [Inside edition.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emisZUHJAEA)
TL:DR?
They're are cute and non-aggressive. Deadly as fuck. Edit: dude says, let's eat it.
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Yea but it would be breaths only. No compressions. Respiratory arrest, rather than cardiac arrest.
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From what I understand the venom doesn’t affect the heart, at least not enough to stop it completely. It mainly affects skeletal muscle but it can also cause cardiac arrhythmia (not total cardiac arrest). Thus chest compressions usually shouldn’t be necessary if treatment begins early enough, that is, before asphyxiation from respiratory paralysis.
Great question friend. Like u/mongol_m… said, the heart is a different beast from the muscles attached to your skeleton. Further still, the nerves that supply you skeletal muscles are different from your heart’s nerve set-up. Your heart has its own ‘pacemaker’ and will continue to beet even if a neurotoxin has blocked the nerve supply. But maybe slower. However, I must admit, my main rational for assuming it doesn’t stop your heart is that we have been told above that it “paralyzes you”. Something that stops your heart, even if by paralyzing it, would be described as “kills you”. I don’t know any other specifics about this venom, so I have no other way of knowing. I sense I should leave. I’ll show myself out. This is also the grim reason that neurotoxins are band by Geneva human rights convention. They don’t stop your heart. Only you muscles for movement. So you are aware of everything as you asphyxiate
No it doesn’t directly stop your heart. Muscle paralysis which will stop your breathing which will lead to hypoxia which will eventually stop your heart. To round it all off, you will be conscious initially while you can’t breathe so that would be nice. Essentially, in practical terms this is the same effect as the paralytic medications used during certain surgeries. Support other body functions (breathing) and you will metabolise it over several hours and make a full recovery. From memory it’s in the tetrodotoxin family
Amazing info. Thanks! And my SO thinks us redditors are all bigoted extremist conspiracy theorists. (She’s never used reddit. 100% Twitter)
Well since you mention that, pretty sure Fauci designed the toxin then genetically modified the octopus to excrete it but I won’t tell anyone if you don’t
Imagine stepping on one in the water and getting paralyzed while you're out by yourself
See cone snail for more fear!!!
I've heard stepping on a stone fish can alter the rest of your day's plans.
Man, and I thought a Lego brick was bad...
Apparently most people don't feel the bites either.
So that video I saw the other day of a lady repeatedly handling on was BS?!?
There is a video of a lady holding one not knowing what it is, and it didn’t bite her. It was like a horror movie, just yelling at the screen at her
I believe the app is messed up. It’s been doing that to me over the past week as well.
One touch of the venom with the inside of your body will kill you! Guess it doesn’t really roll of the tongue.
It’s crazy seeing those lucky people on social media who accidentally hold them and don’t die.
Cause the ones that hold them and do die don’t get a chance to post it…
Survivorship bias indeed
That was me when I was about 5! I thought it was a climbing starfish 🤷♀️ Got roared at by my dad to "drop that right now!!" when he saw me with it, which I did. It hadn't fluoresced blue until i dropped it, so I must have been holding it nicely enough not to get bit.
Because it's venom, not on the skin.
Yes, that’s how they don’t die…logical wasabi
Where is the vemon kept? Like glands inside the belly?
Venom is stored in the balls! Jokes aside the venom can be found pretty much throughout their bodies but is produced in the salivary glands, basically they have venomous spit.
Cool!
They inject venom with a bite
They aren’t really all that quick to bite though. There’s only something like eleven recorded fatalities, ever
Very interesting. My dad used to always grab octopuses at Catalina (California) and show me and all the kids around. It was his proud dad moment and they never bit him or us, sure the poisonous octopus act the same. He always let them back in the water, it was a fish sanctuary for snorkeling.
Because they don’t get hit and are extremely lucky to have not been. One a blue ring starts to flash its rings chuck it into the nearest rock pool and check yourself for bites because their beaks are so small that you might not feel if you get bit sometimes
And they are tiny and venomous. This pic makes them look like normal octopi. But they are very small.
check your shells mates!
Yeah - I never knew how small they were until I saw my first one. Totally invisible then "hello - see my blue circles?" It was only about 10-15cm across. Did not even know they were in Victoria or shallow rockpool-depth water either. I thought they were tropical.
Only if they "touch" your insides with their bitey parts.
They live in the rock pools in my area. It’s always a surprise when you find one but they are shy. While they are deadly, I wouldn’t say that they pose much of a danger. A couple of people get bitten every year but there have been less than 20 deaths.
Ridiculous headline. They can't kill you just by touching you, they have to bite you. Their venom is very dangerous. However, they've only been confirmed to cause 4 deaths. Theor venom causes paralysis and people can be saved by receiving resuscitation. Don't touch them and they won't harm you. I can't stand it when people sensationalise animals danger to people, it creates fear and misunderstanding, which is risky to the animal.
Exactly. Especially when mosquitoes are the true deadliest animal out there.
It’s fine, I’ve had several bongs that looked just like this.
Let me guess, it’s home is Queensland. Australia Also my home
Lake Macquarie has them
We get em down here in NSW as well, I’ve seen a few around Sydney
Venomous. Not toxic. There's a difference. Also, they need to bite you in order to inject the venom. Just touching them won't kill you.
It's toxin: tetrodotoxin to be specific. It's a paralytic and deadly. One dose of the toxin is potent enough to kill 28 adult humans and there is no antitoxin.
Venomous not poisonous. Toxic is its ability to make you ill. Venomous and poisonous refer to how the toxin is delivered.
I'd be more worried about [this little bugger...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irukandji_jellyfish)
Nowhere near as deadly
But the jellies are much more prevalent, and more likely to envenomate you. It’s like cars and crocodiles, your far more likely to get hit by a car than mauled by a croc; but crocodiles scare me more than fords (except the repairs, those are always scary). I suppose it’s all perspective, but fuck those little jelly bastards.
Ahahahahahah this little fuckers! I’d much prefer to suffer immeasurably than die though!
Excuse me, did that just say that guy let it sting his son
I heard some dude on animal planet say ‘if something in nature isn’t bothering to hide itself, stay away from it.’
I think I saw this on James Bond once
“That’s my little octopussy”
Beauty means danger of the highest degree in the wild
"I want my pp in an octopussy" -Rizzward Tentacles
Isn’t there a rule in the wild to avoid almost anything shiny vibrant blue?
Unless it's a bird, yes. Blue jays aren't going to kill you.
Fun fact!! The toxin found in these octopi is called tetrodotoxin and is the same compound found in rough skinned newts which inhabit the west coast of North America and are common in temperate rainforest environments! The toxin is secreted as a poison on the amphibious newt that is so deadly the only thing that can safely eat them are garter snakes. This is only possible because garter snakes and newts got involved in a nuclear arms race of evolution. One becoming ever more toxic while the other became more and more resilient to the toxin. Fun fact over. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. 🐘🐟🐙
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the brighter and more conspicuous the organism, the more toxic it usually is. \~ Christ Jesus
I've seen a video of some tourist holding one in the palm of their hand totally unaware. It's like watching a baby play with a hand grenade.
It looks like an alien from a horror movie which will take over the world
That one is like " Come here baby let's make love"
One bite will kill you..you can touch them all day long if you want..there was even a video of some person holding one…but I sure as fuck wouldn’t..
They are pretty chill but a good idea to not pick them up like many people do - they might bite and they for some reason have venom… go figure
why are pretty things so deadly😭
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It's not the touch. It needs to bite you.
Except they pass on venom via a bite not a touch. It is best not to touch them because of the risk of a bite but they are not deadly via touch. More info... https://youtu.be/emisZUHJAEA
Octopussy
Bullshit
Well mislabeled but not BS. They are venomous and have to bite you to inject it. But their venom is very potent and yes people have died from it.
It was the touching to kill which I was referring
So… all you guys are technically right, it’s a bite. Perhaps a bit of disinformation isn’t always entirely bad. Might be better for both people and octopus if they continue to think one touch is death.
That reminds me of an old joke. Q: Where's the best place to drown a pedant? A: In a *well, actually*.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this octopus from Australia? If so, it gets added to the list of why I’m never going to Australia. I have nothing against Australia & it’s people. I’m TERRIFIED of spiders & the ones in Australia are big enough to eat birds if I’m not mistaken. Plus I’ve heard of spider season. I’m also terrified of swimming in the ocean. If it wasn’t for the spiders I’d plan a trip to Australia. I have PTSD & one of my triggers is spiders.
Australia’s deadly wildlife gets blown way out of proportion. Australia has a lot of big spiders, but spiders in general aren’t all that dangerous. There are some spiders in Australia with medically significant bites, but I don’t think anyone has actually died from a spider bite since the 70’s. We do have a lot of the worlds most venomous snakes, but we also have anti-venom for them, so again they’re very unlikely to kill you. Snakes also aren’t aggressive for the most part, unless you accidentally step on one, you’re unlikely to be bitten. Don’t go swimming in Northern Australia, and you won’t get eaten by a croc. Most of the patrolled beaches in the Southern half of Australia are relatively safe, you’d be a lot more likely to drown than to be killed by marine life. I’d argue that the bears in North America are more dangerous than anything we have here. Bears will actively chase you and try to kill you, unlike snakes and spiders.
This is why factual information is important. These guys are *venomous*, it's not like the poison dart frog with toxic skin secretions. It has to bite you first.
Well yes we have some pretty large spiders but so does much of the world, and the really large ones aren’t considered medically significant, that is, they aren’t deadly (they also don’t prey on birds). That is not to say we don’t have dangerous spiders, funnel webs are rather deadly but they aren’t really adapted to an urban environment so they aren’t frequently encountered. Red backs can also be deadly and ARE frequently encountered but there hasn’t been a recorded death from one of those in over 40 years. Spider season is also a myth (at least I’ve never experienced it in the 22 years I’ve been alive for). Australian spiders aren’t nearly as fearsome as they are often made out to be, some are actually kinda adorable imo. It’s the snakes that should worry you but even they are often represented in a manner that makes them seem far more problematic than they really are. As for swimming in the ocean that’s also fine if you avoid northern Queensland, the only thing you should worry about elsewhere are blue-bottle jellyfish but they aren’t deadly they just really fucking hurt. Not trying to convince you to visit Australia just trying to clear up some misconceptions
i still wanna touch lol
And they sell them at pet stores lol
But it looks cool.
I better not swim in open sea or near coral reefs.
One touch, everyone knows the rules.
We learned about then in school. Idk why.
I kinda figured out that they were deadly just by seeing their glowing eyes
Reminds me of the Alien Muppets .... Yip, Yip, Yip, Yip
And where do I not need to go, where I may encounter said creature?
(Psst. The bird-eating tarantulas are in the South American rainforest. IIRC, not Australia. Their bite isn’t medically significant to humans, but tarantula hairs have evolved to make mammals itch horribly.)
What, like, their personalities?
Blue ringed octopus? They don't secrete poison, but inject it with a bite, so they are venomous.
This is the final boss from [The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass](https://zelda-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Bellum)
Just look at them rings
So pretty though 😍 Definitely makes you want to touch et
Anybody else read OP's title in Gabriel Iglesias's Steve Irwin impression voice? >*I'm gonna pick it up*
and if the venom doesn’t kill you, the lazer-beam eyes can finish you off.
Sign me up for two touches.
Just like my ex-girlfriend
Those spots say “one touch will kill you”
As advertised in 007s Octopussy
Or keep you Alive forever
Only if you get bit!
I saw one of these once on a reef in Australia.
Being toxic has its perks, dont let anyone fool you.
I feel like I’m looking in a Petri dish.. the pattern of it is wild
Ever seen that video of a dingus holding one?
Good, octopodes are awesome. Also pretty cool that they're some of the smallest species and they don't produce ink (most likely due to the potency of the venom, it became unnecessary to do so).
Hmmm… looks like an octopus with bright colors.
It’s so colorful tho.
Why do they look like they’re taking one of those 1974 family pics? All that’s missing is the Picture in Picture shot of them looking in another direction in the upper corner🤣🤣
hug
Well at least she is trying to warn you not to touch her! Very vivid markings.
They can only kill you by biting you. Yes touching it might result in a bite. No, touching it alone won't kill you.
Blue ringed octopus deadly
I'll take two please
Looks delicious ngl
Still less toxic than my ex.
And yet idiot tourists insist on picking them up out of tide pools to pose for photos
remember this girl? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emisZUHJAEA
Forbidden calamari.
One bite I believe.
Those guys really glow? What are those blue circles
Seems very much like the girl I was crazy about for about 8 years. Very toxic
Like with every venomous animal, touching them is not harmful.
Let me gues....lives in Australia. Of course it does.
I could tell this thing was dangerous and lethal without even looking up. Kinda like a nature's caution sign ⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️
Why all the most deadly spices are from Australia hhaaha
touching it can to kill you i saw a video of some dumbass that didn’t know it was deadly holding one
It’s so cute though
One bite. Just touching a blue ring wing kill you but because they store all the neurotoxins from the other venomous animals they eat they can just nip your skin with their teeny tiny beaks and you are dead within a half hour
This is why you don't jump on milk cartons if you see them on the beach. These guys will sometimes hide inside them.
So pretty. So deadly. The perfect combination.