Facts about Blue Ringed Octopus

Although venomous, Blue Ringed octopus is rather a mystifying creature! These animal species are recognizable because of certain characteristic features. Well, it’s not always that you encounter an octopus while wading through the azure waters. But these creatures do not really like being provoked and will definitely not think twice before attacking a person. So, ensure you don’t end up placing your foot over it! Read many more such interesting facts about the Blue Ringed Octopus.

Facts about the Blue Ringed Octopus:
The Blue Ringed octopus is found in the rocky pools seen in the Pacific Ocean. Rocky pools are also known as tide pools and a study of these would reveal many more interesting marine animals that inhabit this place. The Blue Ringed octopus is found particularly in Japan and Australia.

The name, Blue Ringed Octopus has been given because of the characteristic blue and black rings that are prominent against the yellowish colored skin.

Reports revealed that there are around three species of octopus. The Greater Blue Ringed octopus can be seen only in tropical areas. The Southern Blue Ringed octopus is one of the commonly seen octopuses in the rocky pools, only in Australia. The Blue Lined octopus is found particularly between the southern areas of Queensland and New South Wales. It has dark bluish streaks across the whole body.

The Blue Ringed octopus feeds on mainly fish, crabs, shrimp etc. They have a typical procedure in capturing their prey. They pounce on the prey and use their venom to paralyze them.

This octopus is really small in size – 12 cms in length from the upper half of the body to the tentacles. However, one should not be mislead by its rather tiny size. The Blue Ringed octopus can kill many humans with its powerful venom. Their poison has no antidote till date.

Are you aware that the Blue Ringed octopus can see only in black and white? They do have very well developed eyes and are very intelligent creatures.

These species are also clever in camouflaging themselves in the water. The presence of certain dermal chromatophore helps the octopus to blend with environment when needed. You can thus never know when this clever creature can change its color!

When the prey is at a distance, the Blue Ringed octopus can even squirt the venom through the water to attack its prey.

The female Blue Ringed octopus can lay around 50 eggs. This particularly happens towards the end of the autumn season. The female uses her tentacles to incubate the eggs, which can take around 6 months. The female does not eat during this period.

Well, although this octopus injects the venom into prey and feeds on the same, it is immune to its own poison.

The head of this octopus is encircled by 8 tentacles. These tentacles are further joined together to create a flared pattern.

When in the resting mode, the Blue Ringed octopus tends to blend naturally with the sand and rocks. They also have a tendency to burrow in the sand or even corals.

These species mainly hunt during the daytime.

These animals are amongst the non-aggressive kinds. They are not the kind to attack humans unless provoked.