Diver Discover Rare Super Venomous Blue-Ringed Octopus At Pulau Hantu
source youtube
After the current pandemic, more and more rare animals started to appear due to fewer activities from us, as on 14 March, a diver, Robert Tan, 57-year-old experienced diver manage to discover something rare. As he carried out 1,481 dives and 1,284 hours diving in Pulau Hantu alone which he will usually encounter some rare ocean wildlife. However, with his recent encounter, he has spotted a blue ringed octopus which caught their eye.
The octopus which is well camouflaged sitting atop of a rock and this roughly 10 cm long creature swum off after their presences. The blue ringed octopus are one of the brightly luminescent blue ring marine life where apart from its beautiful appearance, it is famous for its venom where it is a thousand time more powerful than cyanide which can kill 26 adult humans within a minute even with just a slight touch.
The toxin the octopuses produced out is called tetrodotoxin which can be found in putter fish and with just one stung, the toxin will block nerve signals causing one’s muscle to go numb then followed with nausea, vision loss or blindness, loss of senses and lastly the victim will experience muscle paralysis then leads to respiratory arrest.
So far there is not anti-venom specific to the blue-ringed octopus, and according to Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, this might be the second record of blue ringed octopus in Singapore so far. However, these octopuses are not aggressive and only will attack when provoked or handled.
source youtube