A Review of Blue-ringed Octopus Conservation

Abstract

Efforts to protect Blue-ringed octopuses (genus Hapalochlaena ) would positively influence the preservation of other marine species, their habitats, and the economic sustainability of indigenous human populations. Threats in the forms of human interference, ecosystem degradation, and over-collection for the aquarium trade are destructive to populations of Hapalochlaena living in littoral ecosystems of the South China Sea, Celebes Sea, and Arafura Sea. Blue-ringed octopuses are not currently listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) or Convention for the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) but could be locally threatened in certain bio-geographic areas. Future conservation efforts will assist scientists while they continue to research anti-venom biology and the applications of tetrodotoxin-based medicines based upon this species. The use of bioprospecting to aid in such discoveries may threaten population stability of Hapalochlaena by introducing unregulated methods of collection.