Luke Commons posted this photo comment to Mr Hart's post showing the scale of the tiny blue ringed octopus. Credit:Facebook He issued a light-hearted warning to friends on Facebook, but with a deadly serious message: "Unless you want to give your smelly mate mouth-to-mouth until he gets emergency assistance, you might want to start wearing gloves, and footwear on the boat," he posted "This is the third blue-ringed octopus we have encountered this season - only tiny, but deadly." Mr Hart, who runs Tackle HQ at All Boats and Caravans in Hocking, said that he thought the number of finds in a week was unusual.

"Typically, we might see five in a season," he said. The avid fisherman who goes out most days to pull pots said a colleague had warned him to wear gloves and footwear when on board. "I hadn't really thought about it until we started to see more of them. Now, I make sure I'm covered," Mr Hart said. "If one wants to have a go, they like the webbing area between your fingers or toes." Mr Hart said that they had found the octopus on ropes and floats, in bait baskets and inside the pots.

"We're on the lookout now, but I think it's a good time, with the holidays coming up, that parents warn their children what to watch out for and make sure they leave the blue-rings alone," he said. A WA Museum aquatics expert said that several species could be found along the coast. "It's not unusual that they might want to make a home in craypot," Clay Bryce said. "They're out there foraging for food and if the pots are coming up in the morning they'll be there before they find a nook to spend the daylight hours." Mr Bryce said that blue-rings were delicate, fragile creatures and that was a reason for how venomous they were.

"They have to be able to overcome their prey very quickly before they get injured," he said. The museum project team leader said that it would be unusual to find blue-rings on metropolitan or any sandy beaches. "They'd prefer an environment like reef flats - if one slides across your foot, the best policy is to remain still and not try to flick it off," Mr Brice said. "Chances are it will just move on." He said that the risk of most people having an encounter with a blue-ringed octopus was similar to the likelihood of them coming face-to-face with a great white shark.

The primary habitat of the animal is in tide pools and coral reefs around southern NSW, South Australia, and northern Western Australia. They hunt small crabs, hermit crabs, and shrimp. The octopus bodies can be about two centimetres with tentacles up to 10 centimetres. They are relatively docile - unless provoked or handled. Their venom can result in nausea,respiratory arrest, heart failure, severe and sometimes total paralysis, blindness, and often death within minutes if not treated. Death is usually from suffocation due to paralysis of the diaphragm.

"If someone does get bitten, perform CPR continuously until medical assistance arrives," Mr Bryce said. Blue-ringed octopus can be identified by their characteristic blue and black rings, and yellowish skin. When the octopus is agitated, the brown patches darken dramatically, iridescent blue rings, or clumps of rings, appear and pulsate. Typically, 50–60 blue rings cover the dorsal and lateral surfaces of the mantle. Follow WAtoday on Twitter