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A Person wrote:
Mind you after I saw this clip of an octopus taking down a (albeit small) shark, I had a lot more respect for our mollusk cousins!

OK, I have to set the record straight. There has been a certain video clip floating around for years of a Giant pacific octopus as it attacks a scuba diver in either British Columbia or Alaska (you can't tell from the clip). It's been on "The World's Most Dangerous Animals", "When Animals Attack" and now "Spike TV". Come on guys, I was there and it wasn't like that..
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So there we were in Tzoonie Narrows (I seemed to be able to spend a lot more time in the water in those days) on the Sechelt Peninsula hunting for giant octopus, or G.P.O.s as our friends in Northern California call them, with Doug Pemberton ex Vancouver Aquarium. There are two different kinds of octopus in British Columbia and Alaska including the famous giant Pacific octo's. These monsters only live for 3 or 4 years but have been documented as large as 27 feet in length and weighing more than 600 lbs. I should note that I have never seen an octo that size myself - a hundred pounder is normally considered a big animal. So the first thing we noticed was a large GPO "hiding" out in the open. Octopus are masters of disguising themselves and are able to change colour and texture and almost be invisible sometimes. Doug then discovered a second GPO hiding under a rock 10 feet away. I suspect that we might have interupted mating behaviour or something similar because the first octo made a beeline for Doug's private parts when he discovered the second animal hiding in the rocks. In the sequence that was originally aired, you could actually see my hands holding onto the first octo as it tries to crawl up the inside of Doug's leg. Anyways, the second octopus came zooming out of the rocks and latched onto Doug's mask and regulator. We (and that includes Doug) were all killing ourselves laughing. It was pretty funny. The soundtrack in that clip is not what I recall at all! Hmmm. Anyways, we treated it as a big joke and there was certainly never any danger. The truth isn't always as good as the hype huh!

Depending on how much venom has been transferred into the wound, the onset of symptoms can be quite rapid. Within five to ten minutes, the victim begins to experience parasthesias and numbness, progressive muscular weakness and difficulty breathing and swallowing. Nausea and vomiting, visual disturbances and difficulty speaking may also occur. In severe cases, this is followed by flaccid paralysis and respiratory failure, leading to unconsciousness and death due to cerebral anoxia. Interestingly, the victim's heart continues to beat until extreme asphyxia sets in. Some victims report being conscious, but unable to speak or move. They may even appear clinically dead with pupils fixed and dilated. Not all bites result in the transfer of venom. The severity of symptoms is dose-dependent. Smaller adults and especially children are most at risk.