Lots of people enjoy the squiggly and crunchy texture of an octopus. However, imagine the surprise when you find a venomous octopus on your skewer.
On 30 November, a Thai woman who was at the Pathum Thani night market was looking at the octopus skewers when she found a surprise. She saw that on one of the skewers, there was a blue-ringed octopus!
ความตายเสียบไม้ ??? ข่าวนี้น่ากลัวมากทุกคน มีคนเจอหมึกบลูริงเสียบไม้ขายในตลาดเย็นที่ปทุมธานี โชคดีมากที่มีคนซื้อไปเห็นก่อนและรู้ตัวทัน
อยากให้ทุกคนรู้จักหมึกเพชฌฆาตตัวนี้ ผ่านความร้อนแค่ย่างหรือทอดยังทำอะไรพิษมันไม่ได้เลยนะ ซี้แหงแก๋แน่นอนละคุณเอ้ยยย ? pic.twitter.com/SVYl2HE6Nx
— น้องไข่หวาน (@findmyway__) November 30, 2020
Ocean Conservancy says that the blue-ringed octopus is one such octopus that can kill 26 adults with the amount of venom they have in their body. They can be found in South East Asia, the Gulf of Thailand, the Andaman Sea, the Sea of Japan and in Australia. These octopuses will not attack unless they feel threatened.
Not taking lightly of the issue, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources of Thailand has posted out a PSA on their Facebook page. They warned the people to not touch any blue-ringed octopus if they see any in the wild.
“ปลัด ทส. มอบกรมทะเลแจ้งทุกจังหวัดด่วน หมึกบลูริงพิษถึงตาย โดย รมว.วราวุธ…
Posted by กรมทรัพยากรทางทะเลและชายฝั่ง on Monday, 30 November 2020
The department has also said that the venom in the octopus can withstand the heat of up to 200°c and there is no antidote for it currently.
It is unclear if further actions were taken against the vendor who sold the skewers but it is fortunate that someone discovered the venomous octopus before it was too late.
So before you purchase any food items, please look carefully to check if there are any irregularities. It’s always better to be safe than sorry!
Also read: Watch: Live Octopus Attaches Itself Tightly on Woman’s Face After She Tries to Eat It
