WA
10 posts
A few weeks ago I saw a small blue ring octapus ?dead in the seaweed at cottesloe. Just wondered how do they get their venom into a person? is it in their tenticles or do they have a mouth? Is their an anti venom?
WA
10 posts
ps this is the second one I've seen there the other one was about 6 years ago.
WA
38 posts
I found some interesting info about the Blue Ringed Octopus. KEEP WELL AWAY FROM THEM!
While resting, the Blue Ring Octopus is a pale brown to yellow colour. The blue rings on its body only "light up" as a warning when the animal feels threatened. It carries enough poison to kill 26 adults within minutes.
The poison is not injected but is contained in the octopus's saliva, which comes from two glands each as big as its brain. Poison from the one is used on its main prey, crabs, and is relatively harmless to humans. Poison from the other gland serves as a defence against predators. The blue-ringed octopus either secretes the poison in the vicinity of its prey, waits until it is immobile and then devours it, or it jumps out and envelops the prey in its 8 tentacles and bites it. It has a beak that can penetrate a wet-suit.
Although the painless bite can kill an adult, injuries have only occurred when an octopus has been picked out of its pool and provoked or stepped on.
SYMPTOMS
• Onset of nausea.
• Hazy Vision. ( Within seconds you are blind.)
• Loss of sense of touch, speech and the ability to swallow.
• Within 3 minutes, paralysis sets in and your body goes into respiratory arrest.
First aid for blue-ringed octopus bites
Pressure-immobilization is a recommended first aid. Prolonged artificial respiration may also be required. May require supportive treatment including mechanical ventilation until the effects of the toxin disappear. There is no antivenin available in Australia. Mouth to mouth resuscitation can keep the victim alive and the poison gradually wears off after 24 hrs, apparently leaving no side effects.
QLD
2315 posts
It takes a bit to be bitten by them, dad tells me when he was young they used to pick them up and play with them. No one knew they were venomous back then, I suppose the flashing blue rings do look kinda cool. Every time I have disturbed them though they have gone into agressive mode pretty quick yet dad dosen't know of anyone that was bitten.
WA
10 posts
wow 24 hours is a long time to do mouth to mouth!
I did here of a young windsurfer killed by one in the keyhole at margaret river about 15 years ago.
NSW
64 posts
At a St John's ambulance course a few years ago they said you only have to breath for the victim for half an hour.
The biggest problem is that the guys eyes will still be open so you should cover them so they don’t get blinded by the sun.
They also said that the victim is fully conscience so they can hear who is helping and who is giving up.
WA
38 posts
If you only give mouth to mouth for half an hour they will die because the respiratory system is paralyzed so they can't breath for themselves. The poison has this effect for about 24 hours. You need to keep giving mouth to mouth until an ambulance arrives to take over. You are correct in saying they can still be conscious and can hear you but they can't respond due to the paralysis so don't give up.
Luckily the blue ringed octopus is shy and hides so he wont be out there chasing windsurfers. If you pick one up or tread on one, that is a different story.
WA
12887 posts
What about the heart???
Does that keep beating by itself or do you need to give the chest a thump every now and again???
QLD
340 posts
We used to have them around the rocks in Victoria. I was taught that it was only the respiratory system thats affected (plus loss of senses, speech), apparently very little cardiac affect.
However, this was stuff from school well over 15 years ago.
Cheers
WA
334 posts
NO CHEST THUMPS ! Their are 3 types of muscle fibres in the body and the particular kind of muscle fibres in the heart (which is mainly all muscle) are not affected by the venom. So the heart will keep on beating.
The muscles responsible for breathing are paralized so you only need to breath for the person until an ambulance comes along and they will intubate them and breath for them.
If you don't breath for the person then the brain will not get oxygen and the brain will start to die, if the part of the brain responsible for sending messages to the heart dies then it can't tell the heart to keep beating and then the heart will stop.
Cardiac massage should only be done if their is NO pulse.
