Ah, memories. This is from the VERY early BZ days and when I was excited about being asked to do an interview on the local news to talk about this encounter. What a stupid, naive media baby I was back then requesting the camera man to not film me bending over and to please not show my double chin(s) - cue a slow-mo montage of me doing nothing but bending over and a close up of just my chins from the very worst angle possible 🤣 Okay, maybe there wasn't a slow-mo montage but it may as well have been. Chalk that one up to experience (and too many pizzas 😉).
This was the first and last time I have seen one of these absolutely incredible - and surprisingly small - animals. Might need to squeeze in a rock pool wander over the weekend.
Blue-Ringed Octopus
Northern Illawarra
Shared post from Backyard Zoology
The text and media in this panel come from the shared post.
Ok so this was the video I alluded to yesterday and honestly it was such an awesome moment for me - real bucket list kind of stuff. This was on the day I got my teenage son out of the house and to the rockpools with us and I was really hoping that we'd find something pretty incredible - seriously, who wants to be judged as a total bore by their kid? I mean, I wear ripped jeans so I'm CLEARLY very cool and totally fashionable, I just don't think I've convinced my son that I'm quite as interesting as I think I am. And nothing screams interesting to a 15 year old like mum stumbling over rocks, yelling various facts from metres away and asking to be pulled to her feet after getting stuck on her knees trying to look at something or other. Good times.
We had already found some Bubble Shell Snails, a Common Octopus and some Common Sea Stars with their incredibly intricate colouring and patterns and I was actually just returning one of the sea stars to its home when I turned around and saw the most stunningly bright colours in the middle of the same rock pool. My first thought was maybe we'd happened across some type of nudibranch - this little critter was small and curled up and into itself but the colours so iridescent it really was the only thing I could think of. But suddenly the patterns started to clarify for me - I could see rings and they were getting brighter. A Blue-Ringed Octopus! I have wanted to see one for ages and just didn't expect to see one out in the open, right in the very middle of the rock pool. Generally they are quite shy, hunting at night and like other octopus hang out in crevices and under ledges and if spotted will move quickly to cover - but this one sat where it was. They are quite well camoflaged and their rings only glow when they feel threatened so I'm assuming my just being there had startled it as it was displaying before I had even turned around.
The bite from these (shy and non aggressive) animals is HIGHLY venomous. Even though they are generally only 6 centimetres with tentacles up to 10cm (there are several species and they all differ, but are all small) their toxin can and has killed humans and there is no antivenom available. Death is from a toxin that blocks nerve signals which stops the person who has been bitten from breathing and often leads to a cardiac arrest. Awesome. Now I have a bit of an overactive imagination so I don't mind admitting I did feel a little tingle in my fingers having been in the same water as this guy and while I didn't quite get around to saying my final goodbyes I did go through a mental checklist of everything I had touched in the pools that morning 😂🙄
Our time with this little one didn't last long. It started to slowly moved across the sand and into the weed, where once there it completely disappeared and we would never have known it was hidden underneath if we hadn't seen it heading in, changing colour as it went. Excuse the wind blown water, it's been pretty windy the last few days. I did head back down to see if I could see one today and get better footage but no luck, I guess it was a bucket list creature for a reason.
Southern Blue-Ringed Octopus
Sandon Point
#northernillawarra #sandonpoint #abcopen #abcillawarra #blueringedoctopus #venomous #southernblueringedoctopus #blueplanet #olympusAU #backyardzoology