Appearance and lifestyle:
The blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata) is renowned for being one of the world’s most venomous marine animals, despite reaching a maximum of 10 cm in size. While resting, these octopuses are a beige or dark yellow colour, but their bodies flash 40 to 60 glowing blue rings when provoked. Their venom, delivered from the beak, can inflict total body paralysis.
Habitat:
The blue-ringed octopus is found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Diet:
Feeds on small crabs, shrimps and other small animals.
Threats:
Some of the they face are pollution, climate change, habitat destruction etc.
Blue-ringed octopuses' venom is 1 000 times more powerful than cyanide.
The blue rings of these octopuses are an example of aposematism, where animals use bright colours as a warning for predators.
There are believed to be roughly 10 species of blue-ringed octopus, but only four have been given scientific names.