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With a cute and smooth appearance, this animal seems to be one of the softest and most touchable in the sea, but don't even give them a rub. The blue-ringed octopus is one of the most mortal animals in the ocean water.
The blue-ringed octopus is a tiny cephalopod with a painless bite and sufficient poison to kill around 26 humans in just minutes.
These animals are not naturally aggressive with humans, in fact, harmful situations have occurred when they accidentally got pressed, stepped on, picked up, or touched by persons without proper knowledge about them.
The highlighted blue rings that give them the name are designed to appear in warning situations, for example, when they got stressed, are attacked, agitated, or threatened. Their body uses a kind of skin cells (iridophores) to reflect light from their rings and show an iridescent color. The biological sign to “switch on” the blue light in their body is considered a sign to intimidate the opponent to step back.
When they are out of stressful situations, their color tends to be a typical yellow, brown, grey, or tan with darker patches. Likewise, they have the ability to camouflage themselves switching their pattern and color to fusion with the background; that way you don't even notice them when they are calm.
Geographically, there are found in the sea frame from northern Australia to southern Japan, equally, in Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines. They tend to locate in sandy areas shallow coral reefs, algae litters, and tidepools, usually hidden in empty shells, narrow rock fissures, clams, and also plastic waste (which is commonly the way they get into contact with human beings).
These animals are as dangerous as unique. Actually, female octopuses only reproduce once before they die, and the overall cycle of life is around one or two years. The eggs are infected by a bacteria colony to ensure they're just like their parents when got born.
Due to their silence and painless bite, humans do not feel the affection of their venom until it becomes severe. It may imply respiratory agony and paralysis. Other signs include blindness, nausea, and heart failure. It is possible to survive a bite from this octopus if stilted respiration is conducted immediately and it continues until all toxins get out of the body.
The reason why this kind of octopus got so famous is that there are considered potentially deadly for human life, however, all kinds of octopuses are poisonous.
Once they got collected for trade purposes, they tend to die within days or weeks later. That means the collectors are in constant need of new animals. The blue-ringed octopus is not considered in direct jeopardy at this time due to their massive habitat and contained hunting; however, the incoming degradation of sea environments and even an increase in their harvest may impact their communities. Watching over them must be a concern for all nature protectors.
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