Irish tourist didn't know octopus on his arm carries enough venom to kill 26 people

Its venom, tetrodotoxin, is 1,000 times more deadly than cyanide.

An Irish tourist in Australia had no idea the octopus he put on his arm for a photo carries enough venom to kill 26 people.

24-year-old John Paul Lennon was travelling around Australia and fishing with friends when he happened upon the deadly creature just north of Brisbane.

Lennon caught the venomous blue-ringed octopus while out fishing and proceeded to place it on his arm for a photograph.

He did not realise the blue-ringed octopus carries enough venom to kill 26 adult humans within minutes, and even just a small amount can cause paralysis.

Speaking to 7 News Brisbane, Lennon and his friend Ross Saunders said that Lennon had been trying to get as many photos of himself with animals as he could while travelling, hence the photo with the octopus.

An Irish man, who put a blue-ringed octopus on his arm for a photograph, claims he had no idea the animal could kill him. Speaking exclusively to 7NEWS, the 24-year-old says the one that didn’t get away makes for his best fishing tale yet. @ChloeAmandaB #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/qY89sjL53x — 7NEWS Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) July 14, 2019

Saunders said he “realised it was an octopus but didn’t realise what kind of octopus” it was.

He said they spent about 30 seconds trying to get a photo of the octopus on Lennon’s arm before releasing it back into the water.

“We got home thinking not much really happened until we showed the octopus video to some of our friends, and that’s when we found out what it was and a lot of googling was done!” Saunders wrote on Facebook.

“We laughed about it when we first found out, but it did eventually sink in, and it’s surreal to think back knowing if things had been slightly different it could have been fatal, and things would be very different right now.

“Thankfully, no one was hurt and we can laugh about how close to death and stupid we were. Lesson learnt, don’t f**k with the wildlife in Australia.”