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Rubescens can spit poisonous juices at you??

Joined
Aug 10, 2006
Messages
67
I was browsing the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary website in the tidepool section, and came across an article on the O. Rubescens. At the end of the article it mentions to be careful because they can spit poisonous juices at you. Now I admit I don't have a huge knowledge base on Rubescens as I've only kept bimacs and a couple of unknowns (which weren't Rubescens) but I've never heard of any octopus including the blue ring spitting poisonous juices? Am I just ignorant on this or is the guy that wrote this full of octo dung??

NOAA's National Ocean Service - Page Not Found
 
Octos do inject venom by excreting it in the hole their beak makes when they bite. This is much like when they bite a crab and "squirt" venom in the hole in the shell to paralyze and start to digest the prey. Even blue rings don't have fangs like snakes, they have a very primitive delivery system.

This is far from the outrageous statement that they can "squirt poisonous juices at you". That has to be one of the worst example of writing I have seen. It was possibly edited and summarized by someone who hasn't got a clue.
 

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