at last, deadly australia!

Finally.

We have been here for over 2 years, and finally, a confirmed sighting of one of Australia's vaunted deadly animals in the wild.

It's a well-known fact that Australia is home to lots of stuff that will sting, bite, paralyze, chomp, drown, squeeze, envenomate, or just generally make life a misery. What is less well known is the fact that this is also a huuuuuuge place, and most of these creatures small, making the chance of sitting on one very small. But it is a very real chance.

So it is with immense satisfaction that I finally caught a snap of, frankly, the coolest deadly thing on the list.

Behold! The Blue Ringed Octopus!

This little guy (he would fit in your hand, if you were stupid enough to hold him) is usually pretty much dressed in boring old earth tones, but when annoyed, lights up some blue rings distinctive to the species. (There are a few biology geeks out there who would point out that there are 2 species, but very, very few people can tell the difference, and almost none of them will read this blog.)

So, imagine you're a child, or an inquisitive scuba diver, or even just a fella from Alaska poking around in the tidepools, and you see something light up like a carnival side show, and you reach out to pick it up (don't worry, I didn't). Then, the little guy injects some venom through his beak with a bite that you may never feel. In the next few minutes, the neurotoxin causes partial or total muscular paralysis, including the muscles of respiration. You may even vomit, but can't cough or swallow, and death by respiratory failure follows. Of course, during all of this, you are totally conscious.

Cool, huh? I mean, this place has got EVERYTHING!

So, without further ado (admitting that there was a fair amount of preceding ado), meet, uh, bluey. Or ringey. Or octopussy. Ah, heck, just check it out.