The Blue Ringed Octopus of Australia

This small but grand creature produces two types of deadly poison in its glands and secretes it into its saliva. When it is angry it changes its color from dark yellow to bright yellow with a blue ringed pattern and injects its poison into the body of its victim. This poison is ten thousand times more potent than cyanide. As soon as it enters the body it paralyses the nervous system through the bloodstream. Within seconds the essential organs of the body like the heart and lungs stop functioning.

Adventurers engaged in diving or snorkeling on Australia's Great Barrier Reef are most likely to come in contact with this tiny octopus. The blue ringed octopus is by nature a reclusive creature preferring to living in crevices or holes, but it does venture in shallow water or small tide pools to hunt. And this is precisely the area where humans come into contact and are often bitten by it.

Divers usually are ignorant of the presence of this octopus in their vicinity due to its small size and often even do not feel its bite. The creature has a sharp, beak-like mouth capable of penetrating a wetsuit. The Australian Government has spared no efforts to educate and warn visitors of the dangers posed by the blue ringed octopus. Warning signs are placed over areas where the blue ringed octopus is known to inhabit, to caution the visitors to avoid contact with this creature.

Immediate medical attention is required for a human bitten by the blue ringed octopus. Since many victims do not feel the bite or pain when they are bitten by it, realization seeps in only when nausea sets in. This is followed a by a loss of sensation and subsequent blindness. This is start of organ failure. Due to unavailability of anti-venom, the only mode of saving the victim's life is by working the poison out of his or her body naturally. For this, the victim is placed on a ventilator to assist breathing and a heart massage has to be given for normal heart beating during the course of paralysis setting in.