All Octopuses are venomous...

[drbill]

We don't consider a large number of critters venomous if their toxins only affect their prey or predators and not humans. Of course for the poor prey species, it is deadly!

[XxLongimanuSxX]

i think the only venomous octopus is the blue ring

me too!!!

[JohnQPS122]

The link the in the OP is dead, but this link:

All Octopuses Are Venomous - US News and World Report

leads to an article that says, "While the blue-ringed octopus species remain the only group that are dangerous to humans, the other species have been quietly using their venom for predation, such as paralyzing a clam into opening its shell."

[siikik]

I thought the plural was octopi... then I found out that the English language has degraded enough to include octopuses as well. Why do I bother?

Venomous does not always mean poisonous and the venom's effect is relative between the donor and recipient species.


Ken

[archman]

When this article came out, I used it in a discussion as an example of bizarre science news reporting. We've been teaching "all cephalopods are venomous" in college for over 10 years. There were no exceptions to this argument in any text I've recently read. Perhaps we were only 99% sure before?

[WestoftheSun]

I thought the plural was octopi... then I found out that the English language has degraded enough to include octopuses as well. Why do I bother?

Venomous does not always mean poisonous and the venom's effect is relative between the donor and recipient species.


Ken

The true plural is octopodes. This is being rather pedantic though. Octopi is wrong, but quite commonly used. Octopuses is also wrong but is the most commonly used.