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Deadly Creatures

Ken E. Bus

By Ken E. Bus
in Channel Zero

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Ken E. Bus

Ken E. Bus

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I got this idea from the Spider Bite thread. Someone suggested a snake thread and I thought it would be cool to have a thread on unusual deadly creatures. So here we go.

 

http://www.rsv.com.au/octopus.jpg'>

Blue Ringed Octopus.

The blue-ringed octopus is another one of the smaller, but more deadly marine animals that inhabit the coastal waters around Australia. There are two species of blue-ringed octopus: the Hapalochlaena lunulata, which is the larger tropical animal, and the Hapalochlaena maculosa, which is the more common, southern species. These deadly creatures are found throughout Australia and Tasmania, and most often inhabit inshore tide pools around the coast.

 

The blue-ringed octopus is small, and rarely is larger than about 20 centimeters from the tip of one tentacle across to the tip of the opposite tentacle. The blue-ringed octopus is normally light in color, with dark brown bands over its eight arms and body, with blue circles superimposed on these dark brown bands. When the octopus is disturbed or taken out of the water, the colors darken and the rings turn a brilliant electric-blue color, and it is this color change that gives the animal its name.

 

The blue-ringed octopus secretes a very deadly venom, either by biting with its parrot-like beak, or by squirting the poison into the water surrounding its prey (usually small crustaceans like crabs). The poison is so strong that it causes immediate respiratory paralysis and death can occur within an hour and a half. The direct bite from the blue-ringed octopus is usually painless, and may not be noticed immediately by the victim, who may have mistakenly picked up an interesting looking octopus while searching through a tide pool. However, the deadly effects of the poison will be noticed immediately. The poison apparently interferes with the body's nervous system. The victim will immediately experience numbness of the mouth and tongue, blurring of vision, loss of touch, difficulty with speech and swallowing, and paralysis of the legs and nausea. If the victim does not receive medical treatment immmediately, full paralysis may occur within minutes, followed by unconsciousness and death due to heart failure and lack of oxygen. There is no antivenom for the poison from a blue-ringed octopus. It is usually necessary to perform continuous CPR on a victim until the effects of the venom have subsided. This may take several hours, but it may mean the difference between life or death for the victim.

 

http://molluskmania.virtualave.net/Photos/coneShell.jpg'>

 

Cone Shells

 

Less than 10 of the more than 600 members of the cone shell family are reported to deliver a lethal sting to humans. However the venom of these 10 causes death in 25% of cases, the venom is delivered by a dart shot from a tubular appendage that the creature can direct to any part of its shell, so there is no safe way to hold a cone shell.

 

 

http://www.rsv.com.au/seawasp03a.jpg'>

Jellyfish

 

The Box Jellyfish has a shape of a bell or cuboid with four distinct sides, as in a box, hence the local name - Box Jellyfish. From each of four corners of the cube, or bell measuring up to 20 cm along each side, the Box Jellyfish projects into pedaliums, each of which may contain up to as many as fifteen tentacles each 3 metres in length.

 

Box Jellyfish are pale blue and transparent and are difficult to see, even in clear ocean waters they are almost invisible, and for years it wasn't known what was actually causing such excruciating pain often followed by death. It was first thought to have been the Portuguese man-of-war, but as most stings from the Portuguese man-of-war are usually accompanied by a sighting it became obvious that it was probably something else. As death occurred sometimes within 2 to 3 minutes, researchers began to search for another culprit.

 

The Box Jellyfish uses its tentacles to kill its prey. If a swimmer makes contact with the Box Jellyfish's tentacles, perhaps only 6 or 7 metres of them, death may result! Children may die after even less contact. The severity of the sting is relative to the size of the Box Jellyfish, the sensitivity of the victim's skin, and the amount of tentacle that has come into contact.

 

A very large Box Jellyfish has tentacles that, if placed end to end, would measure more than 60 metres, so it is not unusual for a rescuer to inadvertently become entangled in another section of the tentacles and suffer the same fate. Sometimes the victim somehow manages to get ashore only to die within a few minutes as friends look helplessly on

 

http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/shorter/img/platy.jpg'>

 

Platypus

 

For a shy little animal, the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) can cause a lot of grief. Tucked away on the back legs of mature males are a pair of short spurs each hooked-up to a venom gland that makes a viciously painful toxin.

 

Platypus spurrings of people are rare, but the select group who have survived the trauma (often fishermen trying to free irate monotremes from their nets) report pain strong enough to induce vomiting which can persist for days, weeks or even months. The pain is resistant to morphine and other pain-killing drugs and anaesthesia of the main nerve from the spur site is often the only way to relieve the patient's suffering.

 

A witness to one of the first recorded platypus spurrings made these observations:

 

 

"... the pain was intense and almost paralysing. But for the administration of small doses of brandy, he would have fainted on the spot: as it was, it was half and hour before he could stand without support: by that time the arm was swollen to the shoulder, and quite useless, and the pain in the hand very severe." - W.W. Spicer (1876)

Professor Philip Kuchel, from Sydney University, says there are at least 25 components in the platypus venom, including a protein that lowers blood pressure causing shock, digestive enzymes called hyaluronidases and peptidases that dissolve body tissue helping the poison to spread, and a protein that increases blood-flow to the spur site causing severe swelling. The slight acidity of the venom adds further sting.

 

But the special ingredient in platypus venom that accounts for its outstanding pain-inducing qualities is thought to act directly on nerve cells that register pain, called nocioceptors. Greg de Plater, who discovered the compound recently at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra, says it works a bit like capsacin (the active ingredient in chillies that makes them taste hot) by stimulating electrical activity in the pain cells.

 

Why this placid animal swims around with such a nasty toxin hidden in its back legs is still something of a mystery - the platypus doesn't use its spurs to catch or kill prey as far as anyone can tell. Cliff Gallagher, an emeritus professor studying the platypus at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, says the toxin is most often used in deadly skirmishes between rival males to stake out territory and also as an "excruciatingly painful" defence mechanism.

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Guest imported_El Mamerro

Guest imported_El Mamerro

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I will contribute to this thread by posting...

 

SHIT I'VE ACTUALLY BEEN STUNG/BITTEN/ATTACKED BY (the underwater version):

 

 

http://www.dak2000.com/whatsdrewimages/StoneFish.jpg'>

 

Atlantic Stonefish: The one's around Australia are straight up fucking deadly, but thankfully the ones in the Caribbean are a bit more chill. A young kid that didn't know better, I got irritated at seeing it stay so still, so I tried to push it with my hand. Received two stings on my middle finger, which made my entire arm immediately useless. After crying like a little bitch (pain is fucking serious, man) and having my arm stuffed in an icebox, I got very sleepy and passed out. Woke up a couple of hours later, my arm looked like a fucking sausage and I couldn't bend my fingers or wrist. Eventually it all went away, I'm lucky I didn't get blood poisoning... we would've gone straight to the hospital if we knew any better.

 

http://www.daveread.com/FlowerGardens/August2000/small/bristle-worm.jpg'>

 

Bristleworms: I've been stung by these fuckers more than I care to remember. They hide in all sorts of nooks and crannys and you are bound to poke them if you grab onto a rock to stare under it or something. Pain is similar to a jellyfish, but is fucking annoying because what stings you are these inhumanly tiny little hairs that you can see sticking out of your skin but are impossible to pull out. So everytime you rub it against something, the hairs dive in deeper and it sucks. Eventuallly your own flesh drives them out.

 

http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/oil/images/jellyfish.jpg'>

 

Jellyfish: I've been stung by at least 5 different kinds, but the kind above the most often, cause we get seasonal infestations. Plus, their sting is really weak, you can just rub it out with sand, you can barely feel it. I spend my time impressing the ladies by pulling them out of the water (them shits grow almost 2 feet in diameter and 4 inches thick), and not-so-impressing my friends by chucking the jellies at them or their car windshields. I once was stung by a serious jellyfish, which wrapped it's tentacles around my hand and we had to remove with pliers... shits were stickier than velcro, and the pain was unfuckingbearable, I couldn't sleep for two days.

 

http://www.vims.edu/env/images/crab.jpg'>

 

Blue crabs: Aggressive little fuckers, you'll be wallowing around shallow water, doing handstands and crap, next thing you know you're jumping and screaming out of the water with one of these bastards firmly attached to your thumb.

 

http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/art/bbbspottedeelsm.jpg'>

 

Spotted moray eel: One of these fuckers came straight out to fucking eat me and my friend while we were stalking a lovely grouper for dinner. We're following this lovely fish with our spearguns around this coral labyrinth (the coral went above the water surface, so the only way to go around it was swimming through the maze), and we watch it go int a little cave. My friend gets in position to scare the fish out of the cave while I wait behind another rock to shoot it when it darts out, and this fucking humongous spotted eel pops out of the cave and lunges at my friend... he hits it with the barrel of the speargun, sending the fucker pissed off over to me. I piss my pants, swim backwards as hard as I can, and ram my back into a lovely fire coral fan. The startled moray freaked out and darted into the hole again. This brings me to:

 

 

http://www.saudidiving.com/images/Fire_Coral_BW_Fish-small.jpg'>

 

Fire coral: The name says it all, shit will both scrape you and burn like crazy.

 

 

http://www.cs.brown.edu/people/twd/barracuda.gif'>

 

Barracuda: I always ended up being followed by a barracuda of alarming size, or surrounded by many of smaller size. I know they're just curious fish and are wondering just what the fuck you are and just chill, but they have the meanest fucking stare of any fish in the world. It's just a bad, bad feeling to be encircled by 8 or 9 of these fuckers.

 

 

 

http://www.notesfromtheroad.com/tarpon.jpg'>

 

Tarpon: Close cousin of the barracuda, these fuckers grow just as big. Once in Virgin Gorda I was snorkeling from the piers at Bitter End to a tiny island bar in the middle of the bay, and I feel something bump the right side of my head. I piss my pants and look, and all I could see was gigantic silver scales... The fucker must've been at least 7 feet long and just kept swimming ahead of me like it was nothing. I was fucking freaked out and just headed back to shore.

 

 

http://www.laputan.org/images/pictures/remora.gif'>

 

Remora: By far the most bizarre encounter I've ever had (besides this one time where a newborn fish thought I was his mother and followed me around all day), these are the fish that stick to sharks and manta rays. They have this suction cup on their heads that looks like a sneaker sole, and they can seriously stick to you with that shit. So I was in Peter Island following a sea turtle around, when a HUGE (almost 4 feet long)remora casually swims up and gets in attachment position. We're talking about a serious fucking hickey here, guys. I hit it kick it, tell it to fuck off, and it doesn't get the point. Eventually it realized it wasn't gonna stick to me, but it did keep hanging around ghoing everywhere I went.

 

 

 

 

I've had a bunch more things happend to me, but I can't remember anymore. The sea rocks so much... Beer,

 

El Mamerro

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Guest imported_El Mamerro

Guest imported_El Mamerro

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It was a spearable grouper, maybe 15 pounds, no more than two feet... I'm not talking about a monster jewfish grouper, those fuckers are outta hand, hahaha. I do have a friend who attempted to spear a 600 pounder by going for the head (stupid fuck...). The fish dragged him down, went into a coral, and stayed there with the spear still in his head. The dude let go, went out to shore, grabbed a new speargun armed with a powerhead shell, and went back at the fish. Blew a hole the size of my head on its side, and had the shit pulled out with a boat winch. My dad's got pictures of the guy pulling the gutted fish up his waist like it was pants. Made a fucking KILLING selling off the meat. Beer,

 

El Mamerro

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George Dubyah Bush

George Dubyah Bush

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El Mamero........youre not a freaking SEA CREATURE.

Hahah all the fucking stings and you still would probably go in the ocean. Fuck that im a land mammal. We have too many god damn jelly fish and sharks in florida. And i have too much shit to worry about. Getting my ass chomped off by a baracuda or a shark isn't one of them.

 

Oh yeah that kitten picture is awesome. hahaha

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Gnes 37

Gnes 37

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http://brokenschool.com/port/photos/greaser1.jpg'>

 

yes the domestic cat is indeed a dangerous predator

 

.. in this case this dangerous animal is preventing me from getting my special can of montana pistachio green and a can of bordens metallic blue krylon. after various tries and shredded up shirts and cut flesh i was able to retrieve my goods by throwing it some kitty treats.

 

please believe you dont wanna fuck around with these little things

 

 

 

http://www.bmezine.com/ritual/A10903/high/marty-bleeding.jpg'>

 

 

here my friend marty tried to help me get my spray cans and a disasterous result happened the furry feline pounced on his face and slit a mortal wound which redeemed him retarded and ugly for life meaning no pussy ever again from the female sex

 

 

very very dangerous indeed

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Obsolete

Obsolete

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my friends dad used to work at this wildlife park place , and he came home one day and his hand was swollen to about 5 times the size it normally is , he had got stung by a platapuss when he was trying to get a torch he dropped into one of their ponds , there nasty buggers , but also very cool .

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Ken E. Bus

Ken E. Bus

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Almost Forgot this Guy

 

Okay so not truly deadly, but still not something you want to mess with.

 

http://www.data-wales.co.uk/badger.jpg'>

 

Because the badger is a formidable adversary, few animals will attack it. Its thick fur, loose, tough hide, and heavy neck muscles protect it as it bites, claws, and exudes (not sprays) a skunk-like musk, all the while snarling, squealing, growling, and hissing. Despite such ferocity, it seldom picks a fight, preferring to retreat if necessary. A poor runner, the badger will back into a nearby burrow and face its tormentor with its sharp teeth and strong claws; once inside, it plugs the entrance hole. If no burrow is available as refuge, it may dig one, showering dirt in the face of its attacker, and excavating so quickly that it can outpace a person digging with a shovel.

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