Blue-ringed octopus

• The blue-ringed octopuses (genus Hapalochlaena) are three (or

perhaps four) octopus species that live in tide pools in the Pacific
Ocean, from Japan to Australia.
• Despite their small size and relatively docile nature, they are
currently recognized as one of the world's most venomous animals.
• They can be recognized by their characteristic blue and black rings
and yellowish skin.
• They hunt small crabs, hermit crabs, and shrimp, and may bite
attackers, including humans, if provoked.
• The genus was described by British zoologist Guy Coburn
Robson in 1929.
• There are three confirmed species of Hapalochlaena, and a fourth
is still under research:
• Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
• Southern Blue-ringed Octopus or Lesser Blue-ringed Octopus
(Hapalochlaena maculosa)
• Blue-lined Octopus (Hapalochlaena fasciata)
• Hapalochlaena nierstraszi - described in 1938 from a single specimen
from the Bay of Bengal; the validity of this taxon has been questioned.
• An individual blue-ringed octopus tends to use its
dermal chromatophore cells to camouflage itself until provoked, at which
point it quickly changes color, becoming bright yellow with blue rings
or lines.
• Their diet typically consists of small crab and shrimp, but they may
also feed on fish if they can catch them.
• They pounce on their prey, paralyze them with venom and use
their beaks to tear off pieces. They then suck out the flesh from
the crustacean's exoskeleton.
• A male mates with a female by grabbing her mantle, which
sometimes completely obscures the female's vision, then
transferring sperm packets by inserting his hectocotylus into her mantle
cavity over and over again.
• Mating continues until the female has had enough, and in at least
one species the female has to remove the over-enthusiastic male by
force.
• Males will attempt copulation with members of their own species
regardless of sex or size, however interactions between males are
most often shorter in duration and end with the mounting octopus
withdrawing the hectocotylus without packet insertion or struggle.
• Blue-ringed octopus females lay only one clutch of about fifty eggs
in their lifetime towards the end of Autumn.
• Eggs are laid then incubated underneath the female's arms for
approximately six months, and during this process she will not eat.
• After the eggs hatch, the female dies, and the new offspring will
reach maturity and be able to mate by the next year.
• The blue-ringed octopus is 12 to 20 cm (5 to 8 inches), but its
venom is powerful enough to kill humans.
• There is no blue-ringed octopus antivenom available.