As you can see, the Stonefish or Synanceia Verrucosa can almost look invisible against coral and rocks. This makes this relatively small saltwater fish very hard to spot. Unfortunately for humans and other creatures, this camouflage can kill. Their poison coming from the 13 spines on its dorsal area which release venom from two sacs. This venom causes severe pain with possible shock, paralysis and tissue death depending on the depth of the penetration. It even can be fatal if not treated within 2-3 hours. 
As with deadly spider and snake bites a firm bandage should be applied as soon as possible. Immediately run the wound under hot water at least 43 degree Celsius (109 Fahrenheit). As you can imagine people are most often stung when they step on a Stonefish, so be sure to tread lightly and keep your eyes open if you are in the Pacific or Indian Ocean, particularly in the Great Barrier Reef. Have a look at these different species of Stonefish...
Watch at about 2:30 into this video to see Steve Irwin and the deadly Stonefish in action...
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6 comments:
Doesn't look too dangerous, but I could see how you could easily step on it!
Mmmm i thouhg the iriconji jelly fish was the deadly fish out there
Box jellyfish > Irukandji
Box jellyfish or iriconji jelly fish are not considered fish... that is why the Stonefish is the most venomous...
These images you have on this article are of scorpian fish fish and not of stone fish..
Actually, from just looking at the pix, you can not tell which is which, the stone fish is typically, as it ages, much heavier bodied than the scorpion typically is .. so this may well be stonefish, especially the first shot. I lived for four years on Guam and caught stone fish (smaller ones) for my aquarium and when I arrived there as a 9 year old, not knowing what a stone fish was, i tried to capture one with my hands .. I used to fish like this all the time. I was lucky, in that i only caught one of the last dorsal spines as it slipped my grasp, but I got enough venom to put me on my back (luckily again, i made it the 10, or so feet to shore; the pain was beyond anything I'd ever felt, it was initially like an electric shock shooting up from the hand thru my neck and chest and into the other arm. My heart rate went thru the roof and was pounding so hard my brother could actually see the vibrations of it thru my chest. Everything went black and my breathing became severely labored. I was conscious, but communicating was nearly impossible. By the time help arrived the symptoms were already subsiding and the pain was receding from the most distant points to localize in my hand and forearm. The skin was blanched and bruised and there was a single puncture. The loss of vision slowly resolved to a sickly yellow and then slowly back to normal. In all this minor envenomation lasted perhaps 15-30 minutes, but I'm not 100% sure on that. The pain in my hand and forearm resolved over the next couple of days and the would healed with basic first aide in 1-2 weeks. There was no swelling after the 2nd day. When I described this to the doctors, they said I was luck that i had caught one of the last spines, as several spines get there venom from a common sac and there are no separate chambers for each spine, so the venom tends to squeeze away from the end spines. The doctors referred to this as a "dry spine", meaning simply that the amount of venom received was very small. If I had managed to grab it around the more central spines, I would have likely needed supportive care for my lungs .. as it was I suffered no pulmonary edema.
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