Dad brings home “shells” from beach but all is not what it appears
Yikes!
A Perth Dad got more than he bargained for on a Christmas Eve visit to the beach with his family.
His 11-year-old daughter Sophie started collecting shells and picked up a cone-shaped shell she thought looked pretty, according to a report from Nine News.
Aaron Pix then put the shells in the pocket of his board shorts for safe keeping but when he got home he realized he had actually brought back two blue-ringed octopus.
"I saw this creature with these bright blue rings coming out of one of the shells," he said.
When his children ran to tell their mum what had happened, he felt something move against his leg, then looked in his pocket and realized there was a second octopus.
Aaron started to feel unwell and went to the emergency room. Luckily, he had not been bitten.
"Thinking about all the possible scenarios of how the kids could have been bitten really frightened me," he said.
"Thank god it was me that found them."
The blue-ringed octopus is one of the most venomous animals in the world.
They are usually found in waters surrounding Australia and Japan and are identified by the bright blue rings.
Nicola Conville has worked as a journalist and editor for more than 20 years across a wide range of print and online publications. Her areas of expertise are parenting, health and travel. She has two children; Lucy, age eight, and Nathan, age five.
