Greater Blue-ringed Octopus Information & Greater Blue-ringed Octopus Links at HealthHaven.com

Greater Blue-ringed Octopus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia;
Phylum:	Mollusca;
Class:	Cephalopoda;
Order:	Octopoda;
Family:	Octopodidae;
Genus:	Hapalochlaena;
Species:	H. lunulata;
Binomial name
	Hapalochlaena lunulata; Quoy & Gaimard, 1832

The Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata) is one of three (or perhaps four) species of blue-ringed octopuses. Unlike its southern brethren, the Blue-lined and Southern Blue-ringed octopuses that are found only in Australian waters, the range of the Greater Blue-ringed Octopus spans the tropical western Pacific Ocean. Greater Blue-ringed Octopuses can weigh between 10 and 100 grams, though the average is 55 g.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Prey

The Greater Blue-ringed Octopus mostly eats crustaceans such as crabs and shrimp. It also eats reef fish that stray too close. It injects them with a powerful neurotoxin that easily paralyzes them. Then the octopus eats its prey.

[edit] Toxicity

Their venom, which includes a neurotoxin known as tetrodotoxin, is produced by bacteria in the salivary glands.^[1]^[2]

Variable ring patterns on mantles of Hapalochlaena lunulata^[3]

[edit] References

^ Robert Steven Hoffman et al. Goldfrank's Manual of Toxicologic Emergencies. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 917. ISBN 007144310X.
^ Hwang DF, Arakawa O, Saito1 T, Noguchi T, Simidu U, Tsukamoto K, Shida Y and Hashimoto K. (1989). Tetrodotoxin-producing bacteria from the blue-ringed octopus Octopus maculosus. Marine Biology 100(3):327-332
^ Huffard CL, Caldwell RL, DeLoach N, Gentry DW, Humann P, B. MacDonald, B. Moore, R. Ross, T. Uno, S. Wong. 2008. Individually Unique Body Color Patterns in Octopus (Wunderpus photogenicus) Allow for Photoidentification. PLoS ONE 3(11): e3732. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003732

[edit] External links

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[0] Robert Steven Hoffman et al. Goldfrank's Manual of Toxicologic Emergencies. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 917. ISBN 007144310X.

[1] Hwang DF, Arakawa O, Saito1 T, Noguchi T, Simidu U, Tsukamoto K, Shida Y and Hashimoto K. (1989). Tetrodotoxin-producing bacteria from the blue-ringed octopus Octopus maculosus. Marine Biology 100(3):327-332

[2] Huffard CL, Caldwell RL, DeLoach N, Gentry DW, Humann P, B. MacDonald, B. Moore, R. Ross, T. Uno, S. Wong. 2008. Individually Unique Body Color Patterns in Octopus (Wunderpus photogenicus) Allow for Photoidentification. PLoS ONE 3(11): e3732. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003732

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Contents

[edit] Prey

[edit] Toxicity

[edit] References

[edit] External links