Blue-ringed Octopus

Hapalochlaena lunulata

Also known as: Blue Ring Octopus, Greater Blue-ringed Octopus

ALSO KNOWN AS

Blue Ring Octopus
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus

LCLeast ConcernIUCN Red List, 2018

Blue Ringed Octopus? — Blue-ringed Octopus adult, photographed at Pascoe Island in the Buccaneer Archipelago, Australia — @MikeV · Pascoe Island in the Buccaneer Archipelago, Australia · June 20121 / 1

Overview

Found singly, in their burrows or foraging for food, over mixed sand and rubble areas of bays, lagoons and rock-pools. Depth of colour varies to blend in with surroundings, their blue rings also vary, when alarmed they will show more and brighter rings to warn it's predators.
They feed on bivalves, crustaceans and small fish.

The Blue-ringed Octopus are highly venomous not only to their prey but also to humans. They inject their prey by biting with a powerful neurotoxin to paralyze, which then allows the octopus to devour its prey.
For humans this causes respiratory arrest!

Octopus make their homes in holes in the reef or bury in the sand.
They can often be found by the tell tail debris outside the holes.
Octopus feed by grabbing their prey with their tentacles or by spreading their skirt (the webbing between their tentacles) over the reef and hoovering up underneath.
They have a beak for biting their prey, the bite quickly paralyses their prey.
Some of the smaller Octopus are venomous to humans.