Blue-Ringed Octopus Essay Essays

Blue-Ringed Octopus Essay Essays Blue-Ringed Octopus Essay Paper Blue-Ringed Octopus Essay Paper The blue-ringed octopus lives in shallow reefs and tide pools in the Pacific Ocean. normally at deepnesss runing from 0 to 20m ( Sheedy and Beasley. 2003 ) . There are four sorts of blue-ringed Octopuses ( genus Hapalochlaena ) : ( 1 ) the greater blue-ringed octopus ( Hapalochlaena lunulata ) ; ( 2 ) the southern blue-ringed octopus or lesser blue-ringed octopus ( Hapalochlaena maculosa ) ; ( 3 ) the blue-lined octopus ( Hapalochlaena fasciata ) ; and ( 4 ) Hapalochlaena nierstraszi. first described in the twelvemonth 1938 from a individual specimen found in the Bay of Bengal ( Blue-Ringed Octopus. 2007 ) . The blue-ringed octopus uses its cuticular chromatophore cells to camouflage itself until it is provoked. Before it is provoked. its colour may change from dark brown to dark xanthous ( Interesting Animals ) . Once provoked. the octopus fleetly changes its colour to bright xanthous with either bluish rings or lines. The blue-ringed octopus typically hunts little pediculosis pubiss. anchorite pediculosis pubis. and runt. In add-on. the octopus is of all time ready to seize with teeth its aggressor if provoked or stepped on ( Blue-Ringed Octopus ) . Although it grows to a maximal length of 200mm when its organic structure is wholly dispersed out. and normally appears to be about the size of a golf ball. the blue-ringed octopus may kill a human being with a bite within proceedingss ( Sheedy and Beasley ) . The human being bitten by a blue-ringed octopus does non experience hurting. Rather. he or she would foremost experience nauseating. At the same clip. his or her vision would go hazy. After a few seconds. the person would turn blind. He or she would besides lose the sense of touch. besides going unable to talk or get down. Three proceedingss subsequently. the human being is expected to turn paralytic. and go unable to take a breath ( Interesting Animals ) . BLUE-RINGED OCTOPUS Page # 2 The toxicant of the blue-ringed octopus is contained in its spit. The spit comes from two secretory organs. each of which is every bit large as the encephalon of the octopus. Poison from one of the secretory organs is used on the chief quarry of the blue-ringed octopus – the crab. This toxicant is comparatively harmless to human existences. The toxicant from the 2nd secretory organ is the genuinely harmful one. incorporating some maculotoxin which is a neurolysin that can turn out to be stronger than the venom of all animate beings found on land. The venom besides contains 5-hydroxytryptamine. spreading factor. tyramine. histamine. tryptamine. octopamine. taurine. acetylcholine. and Dopastat ; and is 10. 000 times more powerful than nitrile ( Blue-Ringed Octopus ; Sheedy and Beasley ) . This toxicant. of class. serves as a defence against marauders. The blue-ringed octopus is known to either secret its toxicant in the locality of the quarry. delay until the quarry is immobile before it devours its quarry ; or merely leap out and enfold the quarry in its tentacles and seize with teeth it ( Interesting Animals ) . The most toxicant octopus in the universe is a soft-bodied being. Besides like the remainder of the octopuses in the universe. it has eight weaponries or tentacles ( Interesting Animals ) . The blue-ringed octopus lives in crannies or holes ; burrows as a agency of deriving protection ; and advertises its toxicity when provoked like all other octopuses. What is more. the blue-ringed octopus hatches from an egg ( one of 60-100 at a clip ) and is about the size of a pea at the beginning of its life. This octopus grows and matures instead rapidly until it reaches its grownup size. Its life anticipation is around two old ages ( Sheedy and Beasley ) . BLUE-RINGED OCTOPUS Page # 3 Mentions 1. Blue-Ringed Octopus. ( 2007. March 11 ) . Wikipedia. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Blue-ringed_octopus. ( 15 March 2007 ) . 2. Interesting Animals. Did you cognize? Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. didyouknow. org/index. hypertext markup language. ( 15 March 2007 ) . 3. Sheedy. John. and Same Beasley. ( 2003. April 1 ) . The Blue-Ringed Octopus. Earlham College. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. earlham. edu/~sheedjo/blue-ringedoctopus. htm. ( 15 March 2007 ) .