Blue-ring Octopus

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Animals from Around the World

Blue-ring Octopus

  • Blue-ring Octopus
    Animal class: Mollusks (Are invertebrates (with no backbone or spine), have an exoskeleton (an outer shell to help protect their soft bodies, and have a sharp tongue called a “radula” that helps them take food off of hard surfaces, they breathe with tiny gills called ctenidia, they lay eggs, some have a “foot” (the underside of a snail) to help them move, and their sizes range from the Acmella nana (a type of snail) at 0.02 in (0.6 mm) to the Colossal Squid at 45 ft (14 m))(Examples: Octopus, squid, snails, and clams. There are over 80,000 different species)
  • Diet: Carnivore (They only eat meat)– Shrimp, small crabs, and fish
  • Lifespan: About 2 years
  • Predators: Birds, seals, moray eels, and whales
  • Size: About 8 in (20 cm)
  • Species: There are 10 different species of Blue-ring octopuses, but there are around 300 different species of octopuses.
  • Speed: About 24 mph (38 kph)
  • Status: Not Threatened
  • Weight: About 1.9 oz (54 g)
  • blue_ring_octopus MapWhere do they live?: They live in the Indian and the Pacific Oceans, from Japan to Australia
  • They live in shallow water in coral reefs and seagrass, under rocks and shells, and in tide pools.
  • They have eight arms, nine brains, a beak, and three hearts.
  • They also have light blue and sometimes brownish colored rings on their bodies that will light up and flash bright electric blue when they are threatened.
  • When they attack their prey, they bite them and inject them with venomous saliva that will paralyze the prey.
  • It is one of the most poisonous animals in the ocean, and one octopus could kill about 25 men within minutes, and there is no cure.
  • When these octopuses are young, they will still have an ink sac and can use it. As they get older, the sac gets smaller and smaller, and the octopus will lose the ability to use their ink.
Chip Valecek
Author: Chip Valecek