Deadly Creatures of the Sea: And You Thought Sharks Were Dangerous!
The first creature we will start with is actually the most dangerous, yet cutest of them all. It is the tiny blue ring octopus. This little octopus is about the size of a golf ball and weighs only 10 ounces. But don’t let its small size fool you. The blue ring octopus has enough poison in it to kill 26 adult humans in minutes!
The blue ring octopus is found in shallow reefs and tide pools around Australia and Japan. It is normally pale brown or yellow in color. But when agitated or threatened, it turns electric yellow with bright blue rings. It begins life as small as a pea and lives only about 2 years.
The problem with this tiny octopus is that it lives where people like to explore. It is rather timid and shy. This creature is non-aggressive and only bites because it is touched, provoked, or stepped on. The actual poison is contained in its saliva. It is a painless bite. However, the bite injects a powerful neuromuscular paralyzing venom. This venom contains maculotoxin. Maculotoxin is more potent than any venom found on any animal by land or sea in existence. It blocks nerve conduction which causes neuromuscular paralysis and then death.
Since the bite is painless, people often do not know they have been bitten. The symptoms start with nausea. The victim then has hazy vision that turns to blindness in seconds. Loss of touch, speech, and swallowing then occur. Within 3 minutes, the victim suffers paralysis and respiratory arrest.
There is no known anti-venom or antidote for a bite from a blue ring octopus. If bitten, it is essential to get help right away because death can occur in minutes. CPR or artificial respiration must be started immediately. Heart massage and artificial respiration must be continued on the victim for as long as 24 hours or more until the poison has worked its way out of the victim’s system. After it has passed through, there are no lasting side effects.
The next creature on the list is the box jellyfish. This creature lives in the ocean around northern Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. It has a box shaped body that is about the size of a basketball with tentacles that are 3 meters long.
Each tentacle contains stinging cells call nematocysts. There are over 3 million nematocysts contained in every centimeter of the tentacles. If the tentacles touch you, the nematocysts rapidly sting you. Since there are millions of these each and every centimeter of the tentacles, you will be stung millions of times.
The sting will first cause severe pain. Other symptoms include: headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and skin swelling. This is followed by difficulty breathing and swallowing along with an irregular pulse. The victim can die within minutes due to heart failure. If stung by a box jellyfish, anti-venom would need to be administered immediately.
The next dangerous creature is often over looked. It is the cone shell, also known as the cone snail. The cone shell is a marine snail that can be found in reef environments around Australia and the Indo Pacific.
The cone shell is nocturnal and does not intentionally hurt humans. However, because of their beautiful shell, humans often pick them up. This is highly dangerous. The cone shell has a sharp harpoon like tooth that it uses to inject poison. It will do so if you even touch it!
The poison is a powerful neurotoxin. Each cone shell has enough poison to kill 700 people! The symptoms begin with numbness, followed by breathing failure, paralysis, and then respiratory arrest. Immediate medical attention is vital for the survival of the victim.
The next dangerous creature contains powerful poison within it. However, it is not likely to use it. This creature is called the sea snake. There are over 87 species of sea snakes. They live in tropical waters all over the world, except for the Atlantic.
Sea snakes have a flat tail that they use for swimming in the ocean. They are not a fish, but a reptile and they do breathe air. The poison they contain is 20 times more powerful than that of a cobra. However, they are quite timid and not likely to inject any venom or much of it if they do bite you. They are wary of humans and they usually bite only if provoked. If bitten and poison is injected, the victim will need CPR and anti-venom.
The next dangerous creature is quite dangerous, but it is not likely to kill you. It is the Portuguese man of war. This animal moves by that of the wind across the surface of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans.
As it drifts across the surface of the water, humans may be in its path. The problem with the Portuguese man of war is that it has long thread-like tentacles that can reach as long as 165 feet! It is very difficult if not impossible to avoid them if you are in their path!
The tentacles contain millions of nematocysts. If stung, the victim will experience excruciating pain, followed by fever. Shock, along with heart and lung problems can occur. However, with medical attention, the sting should not be fatal.
The last creature on our list is not usually deadly, but it is very painful if you come across one! This creature is the stonefish. The stonefish is found in oceans all over the world. They are well camouflaged and often hide beneath the sand.
An unsuspecting person often steps on them or places there hand on them, assuming it is a rock. The stonefish then sticks up sharp spines into the unsuspecting human. The spines cause unbearable pain and swelling. This follows with muscle weakness, paralysis, and dying skin near the injection site.
The horrible pain usually goes away within 2 days. The swelling, however, can take quite a while longer to disappear. A quick visit to the hospital is required to make sure that there are no spines left inside the victim. There have been no recorded instances of death, but it is said that many people would have preferred death over the pain they experienced.
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of some of the dangerous creatures you can find in the sea. Now that you know sharks are not the only things to worry about, how about taking a swim?
