Blue-ringed occy alert at an Albany beach

A visit to the beach for Albany’s Linda Herud and her six-year-old son Tristan quickly turned into a frightening reminder about the dangers of the blue-ringed octopus.

When walking at Rushy Point in Little Grove last week, her son picked up some seaweed, unaware that he had also scooped up a highly venomous sea creature.

Ms Herud said she wanted to warn other parents to keep an eye on their children and what they are touching at the beach.

She said she was “counting her lucky stars” that the octopus — which has been known to kill people — did not bite her son. “Our kids are always playing there and they were looking for cockles,” she said.

“My son picked up some seaweed that had cockles on it, and under his hand was the octopus.

“He said ‘ew’. I ran out to have a look and picked it up in a pot to show the other kids as a warning.”

As Ms Herud checked on her son in the moments after the encounter, she said she was mentally preparing to rush to the hospital. “We couldn't see anything but his hand had been scratched up from digging for cockles,” she said.

“We Googled everything to look out for, and had the kids ready to run to the hospital.”

She estimated the mollusc was no bigger than 4cm across.