How Do Blue-Ringed Octopuses Work?

octopus is extremely venomous. They're native to the Pacific Ocean from Australia and Indonesia to the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea. They live in coral reefs and tide pools, and when they're not out hunting for food or looking for a mate, they hide in crevices or shells. They generally eat small crustaceans such as crabs and shrimp, and can live for about two years. They were also a recurring symbol in

James Bond film Octopusy. The partitular character Octopusy, named for her father's pet blue ringed octopus, led the Octopus Cult in the film. The animal is also the symbol of the organization, and all of its members had a blue ringed octopus tattooed on their bottom, but fictional phase aside. The blue ringed octopus is in fact not one single species. There are two species known as blue ringed octopuses, the greater blue ringed octopus and the southern or lesser blue

ringed octopus. For the article this episode is based on How Stuff Works, spoke with Peter Morse, a marine zoologist at James Cooke University in North Queensland, Australia, who studies these octopuses and in particular they're mating habits. He says that one of the main differences between the two species

of blue ringed octopus is how they reproduce. The greater blue ringed octopuses, along with living longer and generally growing a little larger, have a planktonic larval phase, meaning they start off life as plankton before growing into the octopuses we know. This helps them disperse much farther, making their range wider and their population larger. The southern blue ringed octopus, on the other hand, hatches many adults more said they can only get as far as they can crawl in

a lifetime. This means that there's more inbreeding among this species Aside from its striking coloring, what the blue ringed octopus is most famous form is its highly toxic venom, which is a thousand times more powerful and cyanide, and each octopus has enough venom to kill more than twenty humans within minutes. The deadly venom is a powerful neurotoxin called to trototoxin, the same venom found in pufferfish. While their bite may be very toxic, a blue ringed octopuses

are generally not a danger to humans. They usually won't bite unless provoked. But what happens if a person does get bitten. The venom lasts between twelve and forty hours, depending on the size of the person and how much venom they get from the bite. The venom is a post synaptic walker, which means it blocks some neurotransmitters or

nerve signals in the body. This only affects smooth muscles, so the person would go limp with what's called flaccid paralysis, and while it doesn't affect the heart, it does hit the diaphragm, so the person would stop breathing. This happens within minutes of a bite. Other signs of flaccid paralysis could be nausea, blurred vision, or difficulty swallowing. And the bad news is that there's no anti venom available, so

emergency care would be required immediately. More said, because they're nocturnal and they're very shy, and they give plenty of warning as well, you really would have to be very stubborn to get bitten. The venom is very potent and there isn't an anti venom, but the venom does wear off, so if the bitten person could get life saving techniques during that time, they could be okay. The good news is that there are only a few bites to humans every year, and there have been only three known deaths

from their bites. That's likely because blue ringed octopuses mostly use their venom to hunt and eat. When they're young, they eat very small shrimp, and as they get older and bigger, they take down crabs and small prawns to feed. They use their venom in a couple of ways. Of first, they might jump on the back of their prey and crack the shell with their beak, then inject the venom directly into the wound, or they might release a cloud of venom into the water near the prey so that

the prey would take it in through their gills. Crabs, for example, have an open circulatory system, so the venom goes through their body pretty quickly and they go limp. A blue ringed octopus is generally feed on crustaceans that are equal to or smaller than the size of their own heads. More said, even though they have venom, they usually don't take too many risks because a large crab can still do some damage. Anything bigger is probably not

worth it for them. One mystery of the blue ringed octopus, according to Morse, is exactly how oh it gets its venom and when. We do know that the octopuses don't produce the venom themselves. Instead, it's produced by bacteria in their salivary glands. However, what's still not clear is where those bacteria come from or how the venom is passed from parent to child, as even larva in eggs produce

the venom. I'm Moore said, we really don't know if you were to keep the octopuses in captivity, if they would need to be exposed to something or eat something to maintain their venom. But as long as they are producing venom, they will remain one of the deadliest animals in the ocean. Today's episode is based on the article the tiny blue ringed octopus is the Ocean's Deadliest on

house to farks dot com, written by Stephanie Parker. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership with hous to fworks dot com, and it's produced by Tyler Clay. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio. Is that the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen into your face for chows