Beautiful but Deadly A small octopus crawls through a tide pool It is tan Dark brown circles mark its skin A rock hits the water In a flash bright blue circles appear They seem to glow Don’t pick it up It’s a blue-ringed octopus Its bite is full of venom a kind of poison It can kill 4
5 A blue-ringed octopus shows its blue rings when it is scared
These octopuses are tiny Most are about the size of a golf ball Their bodies are less than 2 inches 5 cm long Their arms reach about 3 inches 7 5 cm Few people see them They might startle the octopus and see a flash of blue How pretty They reach for it Oh no That’s when the blue-ring bites How big are baby blue-rings Q 6
They are about the size of a grape seed A 7 This tiny baby blue-ring will grow to the size of a golf ball
