An Australian woman was rushed to hospital on Thursday after being bitten by a poisonous octopus.
An unnamed woman in her 30s was swimming on Chinamans Beach in Recent South Wales when she was bitten within the stomach by a blue-ringed octopus. reported the Australian.
“This woman… picked up a shell. It contained a small blue-ringed octopus that fell out and bit her twice within the stomach,” said Christian Holmes, an ambulance inspector from Recent South Wales.
The victim then experienced abdominal pain, prompting paramedics to use compression and cold compresses before transferring her to the Royal North Shore Hospital.
Blue-ringed octopuses are small creatures present in the Pacific and Indian Oceans which might be common along the coast of Australia.
Retreating cephalopods only attack when provoked, but their venom incorporates tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin that blocks the transmission of nerve impulses and is as much as approx. 1000 times more toxic than cyanide.
Left untreated, a bite — which is usually small and painless — could cause respiratory arrest, heart failure, paralysis, blindness, and ultimately death by suffocation.
Despite its size, one in every of these deadly octopuses incorporates enough venom to kill 26 adult humans in minutes.
Fortunately, the Chinamans Beach victim is reportedly in stable condition.
The octopus offender was also captured by the ambulance service.
“The bite of a blue-ringed octopus is a rare call for us, but they’re extremely venomous,” said Holmes.