This Small Octopus Can Kill A Human Within 20 Minutes

We often don’t take small creatures seriously but we don’t realise that these vibrant animals can easily kill us. Some creatures are so poisonous that they can kill you within a few minutes. Predicting the toxicity level of a creature is very hard, especially for underwater animals. One such underwater creature looks beautiful and is small in size but poses poison that is more dangerous than cyanide.

If you think that snakes have more dangerous poisons, then you are wrong. This creature is very poisonous and can kill 26 people. We all have heard about octopuses, but today, we are talking about Blue-Ringed Octopus which is so poisonous that it can a healthy person within 20 minutes.

A video of this underwater creature recently went viral on social media. The video was posted on X (formerly Twitter) by a user named Lewis Pugh Foundation. The user wrote, “Don’t let its size fool you- the blue-ringed octopus carries enough venom to kill a human in as little as 20 minutes! Though it uses the poison primarily for defence, it also comes in handy to take down small prey like crabs and shrimp.”

Symbiotic bacteria present in the salivary glands of blue-ringed octopus produce tetrodotoxin (TTX) which is often neurotoxic. Tetrodotoxin affects the nervous system of the human body blocking the transmission of nerve impulses. The muscles stop the process of contracting and thus turn fatal for a human being. According to various reports, TTX is 1000 times more toxic than cyanide. TTX can be found in a variety of animals including fish, amphibians and shellfish. Pufferfish are one such creature that poses this deadly poison.

TTX quickly affects the human body by rapidly weakening and paralysing muscles. The victim starts experiencing side effects like vomiting and dizziness. With time, the victim loses the ability to move the body. The diaphragm gets paralysed resulting in respiratory failure. This procedure happens within minutes of getting infected.