The Okinawa Blue Ring Octopus get its name from the small blue rings on its body and can be found all over Okinawa. This octupus is very poisonous and can cause DEATH! They are found around Okinawa. It starts life the size of a pea and is fully grown at about the size of a golf ball - but carries enough poison to kill 26 adults within minutes.
The Okinawa Blue Ring Octopus has blue rings over its body, which are hardly visible when the octopi is resting. When disturbed or distressed the rings turn bright blue. They have eight short, stubby tentacles with two rows of suction cups which take in water and eject it out side the the suction cups. Its skin is a brown and yellow with dark blotches. The eyes are two large camera like structures. Their vision is very good. The mantle is a muscular chest that expands and contracts with the water passing throughout their body. The octopi can grow from 2-20 centimetres and range from 10-100 grams.
The bite might be painless, but this octopus injects a neuromuscular paralysing venom. The venom contains some maculotoxin, a poison more violent than any found on land animals. The nerve conduction is blocked and neuromuscular paralysis is followed by death. The victim might be saved if artificial respiration starts before marked cyanosis and hypotension develops.
With a beak that can penetrate a wet-suit, they are one little cute creature to definitely look at BUT Don't touch. The blue-ringed octopus is the size of a golf ball but its poison is powerful enough to kill an adult human in minutes.
There's no known antidote. The only treatment is hours of heart massage and artificial respiration until the poison has worked its way out of your system.
First you will feel nauseous. Your vision becomes hazy. Within seconds you are blind. You loose your sense of touch. You cannot speak or swallow. Three to ten minutes later you are paralyzed and unable to breath.
The poison is not injected but is contained in the octopus's saliva, which come from two glands each as big as its brain. Poison from the one is used on its main prey, crabs, and is harmless to humans. Poison from the other gland serves as defense against predators. The blue-ringed octopus either secretes the poison in the vicinity of its prey, waits until it is immobile and then eats it, or jumps out and envelops the prey in its 8 tentacles and bites it.
There are two species of the Okinawa Blue Ring Octopus: the Hapalochlaena lunulata, which is the larger and grows up to 20cm (8 in) across its stretched tentacles. The other, the Hapalochlaena maculosa, is small and more common, weighing a just 28 grams (1 oz). They can be found in the coastal waters and tide pools. Don't ever pick one up - by the time you see the electric-blue rings, it's will be too late.
The Okinawa Blue Ring Octopus is not an aggressive animal and when disturbed it flattens out its body to hide and changes its body color to blend into its surroundings.
While resting, the Okinawa Blue Ring Octopus is quite pale in color. The infamous blue rings on its body only ‘light up’ as a warning when the animal feels threatened. At this stage the octopus is likely to bite.
The Okinawa Blue Ring Octopus are soft-bodied animals, with a sack-like body and eight arms covered with suckers.
The female lays approximately 50 eggs in late Autumn. She carries her eggs around under her arms. Once the eggs have hatched after 3 - 6 months, the female dies. The young octopus develop rapidly, mature and mate early the following Autumn. The males then die and the female broods the eggs.
First aid for blue-ringed octopus bites:
The venom contains tetrodotoxin, which blocks sodium channels and causes motor paralysis and occasionally respiratory failure. Though with fixed dilated pupils, the senses of the patients are often intact. The victims are aware but unable to respond.
Pressure-immobilization is a recommended first aid. Prolonged artificial respiration may also be required. May require supportive treatment including mechanical ventilation until the effects of the toxin disappear.
