An 18-year-old Australian young man was collecting seashells to show to his niece and putting them in his pocket, not knowing that a deadly creature was hiding inside one of them.
Jacob Eggington would have been dead within 30 minutes had he not recognized he had been bitten in the leg by a blue-ringed octopus, one of the most venomous creatures in the world.
Eggington was collecting shells at Shoalwater Beach in Perth on Monday, and when he pulled a shell out of his pocket to give to his niece, the killer octopus appeared — just seconds before the little boy was going to pick it up, Insider reported. 7 News Perth.
“This is probably one of the most dramatic ideas to think about what could have happened,” said Joshua, Eggington’s brother He told 7News. “In the same way, he was bitten, but he may have saved the life of one of his nieces or nephews.”
After a moment, Jacob examined his leg and noticed a small, painless bite. Emergency services were called, he was picked up on the beach and taken to Rockingham General Hospital where he was treated for more than six hours to stabilize his condition.
There is no antidote to the deadly toxins of the blue-ringed octopus.
“And when they bite, it can be fatal within half an hour,” Jennifer Verduin, a marine scientist at Murdoch University, told 7News.
When someone is stung, it is important to keep the victim as still as possible and call for help.
The Australian Museum states that the blue-ringed octopus uses its “extremely powerful venom” to kill its prey, such as crabs and small fish. Yahoo News Australia mentioned.
Ian Tibbets, an associate professor at the University of Queensland, told Yahoo News Australia that the trend on social media showing people interacting with the creatures is “alarmingly stupid,” and warned at the time that “someone could die while doing it.” “With that.”
Now, officials are warning beachgoers to be careful.
Images courtesy of 7News Perth and Wikipedia Commons.
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