st, and when it is not hunting for food, it sometimes takes shelter in rocky holes and in old shells which offer protection from large, predatory fish (Blue-ring, 2004). Snapper, Groper, shark and moray eels feed on the blue-ringed octopus. The blue-ringed octopus is a nocturnal hunter, and they are often washed up into small, inshore pools with the rising tide, where they may bite humans who are unaware of their danger, and children who pick them up. When undisturbed, the blue-ringed octopus has dark brown ochre bands over its arms and body, and blue circles superimposed on the bands. When it is disturbed or taken out of the water, the colored bands darken, and the blue rings turn a brilliant electric blue color. This dramatic color change helps identify the octopus.
Octopuses, like squid and cuttles, have a short lifespan of about two years (Fishy, 2000). The female blue-ringed octopus lays about 50 eggs in late Autumn, carrying them around under her arms. Once the eggs have hatched after three to six months, months, the female dies. The young octopuses develop rapidly, and they mature and mate the following Autumn. The males then die, and the females brood the eggs.
The bite of the blue-ringed octopus is often painless to humans and sometimes goes unnoticed, but its devastating effects are almost immediate (Blue-ring, 2004). There is no antivenin available for the bite of the blue-ringed octopus (Dangers, 2004). Symptoms of the bite include numbness of the mouth and tongue, burring of the vision (blindness within seconds), loss of tactile sensation, difficulty with speech and swallowing, paralysis of the legs, and nausea (Blue-ring, 2004; Dangers, 2004). The venom affects voluntary muscles must not involuntary muscle action because it preferentially attacks myelinated peripheral nerve fibers, so the heart con
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