As we count down the waning days of post-Labor Day summer, I think we’ve earned the right to step away from some of the doom, gloom, and relentless news about disasters. 

Maybe it’s time we let our thoughts drift towards relaxing in the beauty and calm of nature. Perhaps what we need is a day at the beach. The rhythm of the waves breaking, the cry of gulls overhead, children laughing as they run in the surf. Who knows, perhaps we’ll even spot some petite, gorgeous, to-die-for creature relaxing on the sand. So, in this episode, we’ll turn our eyes and thoughts to such rare and exquisite beauties. I’m your host, Joe Kornowski.

And the rare and exotic creatures I’m talking about are Black Swans — of course! Only they don’t look like a swan at all. And that can be a BIG problem. 

 You see, the blue ringed octopus is one of the most venomous creatures in the world, with a bite that can cause paralysis, respiratory failure and even death within hours. There’s no antidote for the venom, and the only real treatment is artificial respiration until the venom wears off.

According to the Field Museum, “The petite blue-ringed octopus could easily fit in a person’s palm and its neon blue markings make it look almost cartoonish. Their bright color and small size can make them seem harmless, tempting people to pick one up and post a photo or video of it. But its bright blue coloring says boldly: “don’t touch me, I’m toxic.” The blue-ringed octopus does occasionally wash up on the lovely beaches of the U.S. and other Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean locations, including Australia. 

 They flash their bright blue rings when they feel threatened. They are NOT aggressive and will only bite if provoked or handled, but not always.

Four years ago, at Navarre Beach, Florida, a man who was cleaning up trash on the shore happened to find one, picked it up with a glove and put it in a bucket, not knowing how lethal it was. It never bit him. Later, he posted a photo of it on Facebook, and other users warned him of its toxicity. He then released it back in the ocean and thoroughly washed his hands.

A woman in Newport Beach, California, had a similar experience in 2021. She posted it on TikTok, but luckily didn’t pick it up, and learned later how dangerous it was.

So, just to emphasize, beached blue ring octopi are rare, and non-aggressive. If you happen to see one, just avoid it and tell others to do the same, and maybe report it if you’re on a public beach.

 The blue ringed octopus can teach us some very useful things about Black Swans:

First, of course, a Black Swan doesn’t have to be BIG, as in a large-scale event affecting many people. It can be as intensely personal as putting your bare foot down in exactly the wrong place. And, if you do, it will give a whole new meaning to the phrase, “I REALLY stepped in it THIS time.”

Second, a tiny rare creature that can deliver a lethal bite is ALL the more dangerous BECAUSE of its Black Swan characteristic of being UNEXPECTED. Candidly, I never even heard of a blue ringed octopus until I went looking for it with ChatGPT. And I was looking for its CATEGORY, not any specific species or form, when I entered this prompt: 

“What is the smallest but extremely dangerous creature that has ever washed up on a public beach in the coastal U.S.”

Bot-o’-Bing [Microsoft's Bing Chatbot GPT] replied with two creatures: 

The SECOND ONE was the blue ringed octopus.

The FIRST one it cited was the Portuguese man o' war, which I was vaguely familiar with as some kind of small jellyfish. Turns out that actually isn’t quite right. The man o’ war is NOT a single animal, but a colony of tiny organisms called “zo-oids” that work together as one. This collective has a gas-filled bladder that acts as a sail, and long tentacles that grow to 30 feet and longer. The tentacles have stinging cells that can deliver a painful and sometimes fatal venom to humans and other animals, as well as cause severe skin irritation, muscle cramps, breathing problems, and even cardiac arrest. And even if the Portuguese man o' war is dead or washed up on the shore, its tentacles can still sting.

While the Portuguese man-o’war IS small and potentially deadly like the blue ringed octopus, I chose not to focus on it in this episode because … well, most importantly for our purposes, the Portuguese man-o’-war IS NOT A BLACK SWAN. 

Here’s why: 

A washed up Portuguese man-o’war is not rare, especially in Florida and other warm coastal areas. On top of that, the man-o’-war is NOT UNEXPECTED, particularly in certain regions and seasons. For example, they’re more likely to wash up on beaches in the UK during autumn months. Winds blow them into ocean waters off the UK’s West Coast, where they wash ashore, mainly on the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall. They’re predictable that way.

Another reason to focus on the blue ringed octopus rather than a Portuguese man-o’-war is because people, especially kids, are not as likely to run up and want to touch what looks like a wet baggy next to somebody’s attempt to cook a pot of black fettuccine gone horribly wrong!

Another valuable lesson from the threat of a beached blue ring octopus is that what we might intend as a relaxing day in nature can actually cause us to forget just how distracting a day at the beach really. We’re much more likely to drop some of our valuable situational awareness as we focus on fun and adventure. We can be so pre-occupied with putting up a volleyball net, slathering the kids with SPF 700 sunscreen, constantly warning your group against wading into rip currents, staying within earshot and eyesight of each other – and especially watching out for those scary gray dorsal fins that seem to be getting ever closer to popular beaches these days.

Telling everyone in your beach party repeatedly to watch where they’re walking seems almost petty, paranoid and even controlling. You’re there to have fun! So, PLAYFUL may be a better reminding approach with some diddy like: “blue rings, deadly stings.” Or something simple like: “Watch your step, and KEEP WALKIN’”

My dad used one of those when my brother and I were young while walking through the woods to help us identify a different deadly ringed beast, the coral snake, with its distinctive sequence of red, yellow and black bands. EXACTLY THE same colored bands can appear on a non-venomous snake BUT in a different sequence. To help us learn the difference, dad would tell us: “Red on yellow kills a fellow; red on black, you’re okay, Jack.”

We can also tweak the modern expression, “If you SEE something, scream something.”

Such seemingly simple, even corny, reminders can help us stay IN AWARENESS but OUT OF FEAR.

Precisely because a blue ringed octopus, a Portuguese man-o’war or whatever other dangerous critters might occasionally hang out at your local beach are colorful or otherwise easily identifiable, the strategy here is all about awareness and avoidance. That’s easy, right? Well, maybe a little TOO EASY. 

Given the rarity of these particular potential Black Swan Events — by definition, rare and unexpected, playing a game of name-that-beach-beast with photos ahead of time runs the risk of getting ditched in favor of other preparations. 

Just remember:
 
1.    Some potential Black Swans can be disguised as exquisite little soft squishy creatures that don’t seem at all threatening. Black Swans come in all sizes, shapes, forms and scale.

2.    Their rarity and high improbability are more than offset by their extremely high potential threat to your life or those you care about.

3.    Unlike many other Black Swan Events, their threat likelihood depends much more on your own preventive awareness and avoidance to keep you safe.4.    Finally, when you’re at the beach, or otherwise in nature, and you’re attracted to something petite, exotic and beautiful that you’d really like to TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT and maybe even touch, STOP! MAKE SURE YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IT IS BEFORE YOU TOUCH IT OR EVEN CLOSE TO IT. Do what the people did who lived to tell about their close encounter with a blue ringed octopus by posting a photo or video on social media or asking someone in the area who might know what you’re looking at.

Here’s to hoping the next Black Swan YOU meet doesn’t first announce itself under your foot.