There Is Many Known Species of Blue Ringed Octopus, Counting to About 10. I Will Be Focusing

There is many known species of blue ringed octopus, counting to about 10. I will be focusing on no specific octopus, because they are so similar. The blue ringed octopus (and all other octopi) is a cephalopod.

Theses amazing octopi are the only octopi species know to be fatal to man. It has very dangerous venom, and there is no anti venom. This is why they can be deadly.

The Blue Ringed Octopus spends most of its time in crevices. This creature, like other of its kind has no vertebrae (in-vertebrate) which is why it can change shape to fit into a crack way smaller than what would seem possible. This is not the only defense this creature has; like other octopi, it can quickly change its color to fit with its surroundings. The color changing is a very complex system. Chromatophores (a certain type of pigment cell) are inside their skin. By changing the size of these chromatophores (stretching their skin) they also change the colors, and they can also control pattern to become the ultimate camouflage. See if you can find the octopus in this picture.

Diet: The Blue Ringed Octopus’s diet consists mainly of hermit crabs, crags, occasionally fish, and shrimp. They kill and eat their prey (normally hunting at night) by injecting deadly venom into the prey with their bite.

Defenses: If they are the ones being hunted, they give a warning sign before they inject their venom. They send out rapid blue flashes out of their blue rings, hence the name Blue Ringed Octopus. Adults typically have about 50-60 rings on their body. Surprisingly this octopus doesn’t use and ink sack as its first line of defense, like many other octopi.

Appearance: This octopus isn’t very large. Their max size is about 12 centimeters long. Its normal color (when not changed to blend in) is a yellow/brown with blue spots all over its body. It is a very beautiful animal. When curled up it is about the size of a golf ball.

Reproduction: The Male and Female octopi grow to about the same size. The only difference is that one of the male’s tentacles has a grasping tool at the end called a Hectocotylus. The male also uses this to inject his sperm into the female. The males die shortly after mating. The female then lays anywhere from 50 to 100 eggs. She keeps the eggs under a “tent” she makes with her body. But, she can’t eat while carrying eggs, so the female dies also, shortly after the eggs hatch.

The hatchlings are about the size of a pea when they hatch. It then matures, and the average life of one of these octopi is 2 years.

Cites:

http://animals.about.com/od/molluscs/p/molluscs.htm

http://www.octopusworlds.com/octopus-reproduction.html

http://www.users.on.net/~jamesmosby/bro/lifecycle.html