blue ring octopus

[Tanked]

A few months ago my lfs had an octopus for sale. Either it died, or some sucker actually bought it. Aside from scientists, I have no idea why anyone would want an octopus anyways. You can't keep one in a community tank. You always run the risk of it releasing it's ink and fouling the water. They don't live very long. You wouldn't see it that much as they're very secretive creatures. They're incredible escape artists. You think a xenia smells bad when it dies, wait til you come home from a hard day's work to find a rotting mollusc on the floor of your bedroom. Sounds great huh? I'll take two!

[matt the fiddler]

like mantis shrimp

 

why not

[d[J]_a[Q]ua]

be the first to sue...br octopus shouldnt be kept by ignorant people and people without the right equipment to handle such a deadly animal. but out of curiosty, how much are they going for?

[blenny & the jets]

I used to work for a LFS when I was in college (7 yrs. lol), and we occaisionally got blue rings in from indian ocean transhippers. We didn't order them, but the transshippers would put in random items to fill boxes up to save on frieght charges. They would give us 5-6 probably 3-4 times a year, once we got 12 and another time 16! We sold them with severe warnings to customers we knew were responsible reefers for a few years, then my boss read a story of a guy dying from a blue ring bite in California. After that we euthanized and disposed of them. Unfortunate- due to the danger, difficulty of care, and short life span they should stay in the sea.

 

I tried one in a 10 gallon long once, it only lasted overnight

 

 

Octopi can make fascinating pets, especially some of the medium sized atlantic species. Once we had one for about 2-3 weeks, no one seemed interested to purchase her. She stopped eating one day and I noticed a clutch of eggs had been deposited in the corner of her tank. The babies hatched but I couldn't get them to eat anything, no idea what they required. The mom ate one last half hearted meal then died a couple of days later (she was a voracious eater before the eggs).

 

I wouldn't count on blue rings being non-venoumous in captivity. Dart frogs lose their venom in captivity because they get it from ants they eat in the wild. These octopi produce it from a gland, so I'm sure they will remain venomous throughout their life.

[Doc Shake]

female octopi always die post spawn. if you find a male, most small sps can live for a year or two with enough O2 as they use hemocyanin rather than hemoglobin. ive hade a couple of two spots and they are fun to keep, ive never seen them ink. as for blue rings, they can kill you, but you have to smack them and put your hand in front of them to get them to bite. If you are that dumb, then out of the gene pool with you!

[calvinci]

The bad news is all the blue ring is sold, about 30 in total. Good news is no case has been reported in the local press, about victim died of blue ring bites.

[rock12]

keep us posted though!

[3gEclipseGuy]

Blue ring octopus starring in....

 

http://jamesbond007.net/Octo/octo3.html

[255 255 255 0]

Malaysia is quite near and im goin there this 24th, to Kuala Lumpur and the islands. what lfs u sed the br octopi was from again? mb ill pay them a visit and put them octopi in their pants, then some wedgies for gud measure. then we'll see where blue rings can appear other than on the octopi.

 

Neways, calvinci, "apa ade kat Malaysia tahun baru nie?"

[paingod]

Ask the LFS owner to grab his head again and poke him in the eye, while crawling on his arm! Then.... Watch him for 5 mins.

(bring a video camera) and keep us posted!!!!!

[formerly icyuodd/icyoud2]

how toxic is the blue ring compared to a lion fish?

[Caesar777]

Random comment, pg... But wow, what an idiotic idea. Someone called us asking about a blue-ring. Didn't read the thread, but I hope people wanting a blue-ring realize the many reasons why it'd be MORONIC to get one, besides the horrible deadliness. First off, they're normally varying shades of brown; the blue rings only show up when they're infuriated. Second, their full lifespan from hatching is less than a year--more like 7-9 months--and most wild-caught ones are already adults, so it'll die of old age in your aquarium in just a few months or LESS. Ugh...Terrible.

[Caesar777]

Deadly. Lionfish is mild, like a bee sting; blue ring octopus has a deadly neurotoxin, like a cobra. 5 minutes from bite to death.

[yoshiod9]

but don't forget that if someone realizes what has happened to you and performs emergency cpr, the venom will work its way out of your system in a day or so. i'm too lazy to google a source, but i recall reading of people who had been bitten and lived and they say that they are entirely aware of what is going on around them...the toxin just prevents them from doing anything. scary stuff.

[Caesar777]

Well, it's more than just getting cpr... If you can get on life support--and this goes for most-all toxins--then you can be kept alive until the venom, strings of proteins, is broken down in your body. Then you'll be "fine". But that's if you can get to a hospital, or at least have an ambulance get to you and have everything hooked up to you, in the few minutes you have. And there's no "antidote" to keep on hand. Heck, even with venomous snakes, there's antivenin, but it's highly allergenic and not 100% effective. AND most people can't get ahold of it to stock it, because it's in limited supply across the world.

[ejls2]

You'd need to get onto full life support very quickly. Even that is not a guarantee you'd survive. CPR would help in the short run though. The main constituent in the saliva is the same substance found in "Fugu" pufferfish i.e. TTX. It's a pure neurotoxin so once it has been metabolysed (24-48 hours) victims should recover.

 

There are substances which do work as a partial cure for people who have ingested the poison but to my knowledge no-one has ever tried them on a blue-ring victim. However the Neostigmine/Prostigmine family of drugs should be effective (again not clinically proven).

 

That said TTX is only one of the substances of concern. I don't believe the others have even been characterised yet but if they inhibit respiration on a cellular level then I doubt any treatment would be particularly effective unless administered before the bite.

 

I've lived with pathology students too long