Y'all,
 
My personal favorite reference on venomous critters is "Dangerous Marine
Animals," by Bruce W. Halstead, M.D.  There is good coverage on cones.  And
also under mollusca, a chilling little story, which I have slightly
embellished ...
 
Once upon a time, there was a scuba diver with an tendency to view
underwater life anthropomorphically -- that is, as if morays were crusty
old curmudgeons and pistol shrimp might look better wearing ten-gallons.
He saved up all his money and took his dream vacation -- two weeks' of
diving in the South Pacific.  On his second dive, he entered a underwater
grotto, discovering there the most precious little creature he'd ever seen.
 As he benevolently tortured the poor thing with a begloved finger, he
amused himself with a thought of what this fellow's name might be, if he
had one.  Perhaps Spot?  That's the one that seemed to fit the best.
 
Now, since Spot was such a remarkable find, our curious diver decided to
hang onto him, just long enough to show to his friends onshore.  A brief
stay above water wouldn't hurt anything.  Spot wasn't nearly as shy as the
diver had heard his type were.  So he headed to shore to introduce his new
little friend.
 
The problem was that Spot did indeed have a name, Octopus lunulatus, which
might mean something to you if you know anything more about octopi than our
diver did, which was nothing.  As he carried Spot out of the water onto the
beach, conveniently perching the tiny octopus on his shoulder so as to have
his hands free, the diver felt a sharp little sting on the side of his
neck.  Why, the ingrate bit him!  Manifestly displeased with the treatment
his new lil' buddy had displayed, the diver decided Spot wasn't so thrilled
about his piggybabck ride, and so chucked him out a few meters into the
sea.  Let the little bugger find his own way home, he thought, and
continued up the beach.
 
So it was that a few minutes later, when the diver started complaining to
his human friends that he was thirsty, but wasn't able to swallow water, no
one made the connection.  There was no way to know, as the diver stumbled
about, heaved, and went into violent convulsions, that innocent little
Spot, the Blue-Ringed Octopus, had ever been anywhere near our poor diver.
But about two hours after their acquaintance was made, the diver was in
hospital and quite dead.
 
It's like I told my soldiers as we prepared to deploy to Kuwait for four
months:  if you don't know what it is, don't find out.  (I was warning them
about picking up unexploded ordnance.  Same principle!)  The sea is an
amazingly alien realm, and we are ever strangers to it.  As so many have
noted here, respect and caution are in order.
 
Sweet dreams, everyone!  Heh, heh.
 
Jenny Scarboro
 
 
 
 
401 S. Twin Creek Dr #9C
Killeen, TX 76543 USA
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