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Woman survives two bites from the most toxic animal on Earth [1]
['David Pescovitz']
Date: 2023-03-28
A woman visiting a beach near Sydney in New South Wales, Australia picked up a small shell that caught her eye. But moments later, a tiny creature dropped out onto her stomach and bit her. Twice. Turns out, the animal was a blue-ringed octopus, one of the world's most toxic animals. The cephalopods' venom is rich in tetrodotoxin, an extremely potent poison that's also found in pufferfish, ocean sunfish, rough-skinned news, moon snails, and a few other species. The venom is a neurotoxin which will slowly paralyze all of your muscles until you are unable to breathe.
"A blue-ringed octopus bite is a rare call for us, but they are extremely venomous," NSW Ambulance inspector Christian Holmes said in a Facebook post. "The patient was experiencing some abdominal pain around the bite site so paramedics applied pressure and a cold compress before taking her to Royal North Shore hospital to be monitored and treated for further symptoms."
Amazingly, the woman survived.
(via LiveScience)
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