Tag: blue-ringed octopus

Teen pockets seashell to show niece, ends up fighting for his life

An 18-year-old was collecting seashells to show his niece and put one into his pocket, not knowing a deadly creature was hiding inside.

An 18-year-old man in Australia was collecting seashells to show his niece and putting them into his pocket, not knowing a deadly creature was hiding inside one of them.

Jacob Eggington could have been dead in 30 minutes had he not recognized he had been bitten on the leg by a blue-ringed octopus, one of the most venomous creatures in the world.

Eggington was collecting shells at Shoalwater Beach in Perth on Monday, and when he pulled a shell out of his pocket to give to his niece, the deadly octopus emerged—just seconds before the toddler would have been holding it, according to 7News Perth.

“That’s probably one of the more dramatic thoughts to think what could have happened,” Eggington’s brother Joshua told 7News. “So in the same way, he did get bitten, but he also probably saved one of his nieces’ or nephews’ lives.”

A moment later, Jacob inspected his leg and spotted a small, painless bite. Emergency services were called, and he was stretchered off the beach and taken to Rockingham General Hospital where he was treated for over six hours to stabilize him.

There is no antidote for the deadly toxins of the blue-ringed octopus.

“And when they do bite, then that can be fatal within a half an hour,” Murdoch University marine scientist Jennifer Verduin told 7News.

When someone is stung, it’s important to keep the victim as still as possible and call for help.

The Australian Museum states that the blue-ringed octopus uses its “extremely powerful venom” to kill its prey, such as crabs and small fish, Yahoo News Australia reported.

Ian Tibbetts, Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, told Yahoo News Australia the social media trend showing people handling these creatures is “alarming stupidity,” and warned at the time, “Someone might die doing this.”

Now, officials are warning beachgoers to exercise caution.

Photos courtesy of 7News Perth and Wikipedia Commons.

Deadly octopus is served to a diner at a hot pot restaurant

When a basket of raw octopuses was brought to the table of a hot pot restaurant, a diner turned to social media for help.

When a basket of raw octopuses on a bed of ice was brought to the table of a hot pot restaurant in China, a diner was fortunate to have waited before digging in.

What gave the diner pause was a spotted octopus that seemed out of place. And, boy, was it out of place. What he was served was a deadly blue-ringed octopus, one of the world’s most venomous marine animals.

The diner took a photo of the octopuses that included the suspicious specimen and posted it on Weibo (the Chinese equivalent to Twitter), addressing it to the official account of Natural History science magazine, according to Archyde.com and Kuai Technology via Gamingdeputy.com.

“Natural Science and Technology, I saw it in a hot pot restaurant,” the diner wrote. “Is this a blue-ringed octopus? Can it be cooked?” The diner ended the post by writing, “Waiting online, a little urgent.”

According to the South China Morning Post, a few minutes later, a response came from science education blogger Bo Wu Za Zhi, who wrote, “It is a leopard-striped octopus or blue-ringed octopus. Its toxicity is very strong and won’t be neutralized when heated.

“We’ve seen cases where blue-ringed octopuses are, on rare occasions, accidentally mixed in with ordinary octopuses sold at markets, although the possibility of this happening is very low.”

Several alarmed Weibo users expressed concern for the diner, many telling the diner not to eat the octopus with the faint blue circles.

One Weibo user finally asked, “Are you okay? You haven’t eaten it, right? Be quick to tell the restaurant owner this octopus is poisonous and cannot be eaten.”

Fortunately, the diner replied, “I haven’t eaten it. It has been taken away from the table.”

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Hot pot is popular in China. Raw ingredients such as meat and vegetables are brought to the table and diners cook them in a pot of boiling broth at the center of the table.

Obviously, one doesn’t expect any of the ingredients to be deadly.

“A thriller with good ending,” one commenter wrote on South China Morning Post.

Generic photo of a live blue-ringed octopus courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

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Woman handles deadly sea creature in trend of ‘alarming stupidity’

A woman posted video on TikTok showing her scooping up a blue-ringed octopus, a highly venomous cephalopod whose bite can be fatal.

In an act called “alarming stupidity” by one expert, a woman in Australia posted video on TikTok showing her scooping up a blue-ringed octopus, a highly venomous cephalopod whose bite can be fatal.

“There have been a handful of fatal encounters with these animals,” the Natural History Museum writes.

“TTX [tetrodotoxin] can take effect quickly, rapidly weakening and paralyzing muscles alongside a host of other potential side effects, such as vomiting and dizziness. While increasingly unable to move, TTX victims generally remain conscious and aware until a lack of oxygen renders them unconscious. Death is usually by respiratory failure, the diaphragm having become paralyzed. This can occur within a matter of minutes.

“There is no antidote for TTX, and most care is supportive, such as ventilation to keep a patient breathing until the effects of the toxin wear off.”

When threatened, the blue-ringed octopus displays iridescent blue rings, a sign not to mess with it. Fortunately, the blue-ringed octopus that the woman identified as Katapillah on TikTok never displayed these features, as seen in the video.

@katapillah

The dangerously beautiful sea 🌊 #fyp #ocean #blueringedoctopus #immune #stillalive #nature #sealife

♬ Under the Sea (Instrumental) [From “The Little Mermaid”] – London Music Works

Videos of people handling these deadly sea creatures are becoming a trend on social media and is “alarming stupidity,” Ian Tibbetts, Associate Professor at the University of Queensland told Yahoo News Australia.

However, Katapillah didn’t know what she was handling when she scooped up the sea creature. She wrote that “I didn’t know until half hour later what it was.”

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Those commenters on Katapillah’s TikTok sure knew, and were mostly incredulous that she would handle the deadly sea creature.

“You are very lucky,” one wrote.

Other reactions:

“Just that far from death.”

“What r u doing? r u mad?”

“Mate do [you] enjoy dying or something?!!! It’s a blue-ring octopus, throw it back n runnnnn.”

“I screamed ‘drop it…NOW.’”

“Do you have a death wish?”

“Lucky to be a live.”

Katapillah was not bitten or hurt in the encounter.