I have seen many blue rings handled with no problems. I myself have handled them and feel that there is very little risk involved with them. I have had much more severe reactions from Palythoas, in fact have had to visit the hospital in the Marshall Islands once due to improperly handling Palythoa rocks.
Alex Kerstich did some studies on blue rings once and found that there were at least 5 different sub species of blue rings. His thoughts were that only the larger one found along the Australian coast was a threat. I have watched fishermen pick them out of the rocks with their fingers and hold them tightly in their hands for restraint when catching them. The natives have no fear of them in most islands. Generally if something is dangerous the natives will know and respect them. I have not found that at all the case with blue rings.
I will not bring them in due to the high mortality during shipment and the short life span. I was approached to bring some in for the thread starter but did not want to due to the mortality issue. I think that there is much more of a liability issue with lion fish and stone fish from a health risk view.
Dave
Alex Kerstich did some studies on blue rings once and found that there were at least 5 different sub species of blue rings. His thoughts were that only the larger one found along the Australian coast was a threat. I have watched fishermen pick them out of the rocks with their fingers and hold them tightly in their hands for restraint when catching them. The natives have no fear of them in most islands. Generally if something is dangerous the natives will know and respect them. I have not found that at all the case with blue rings.
I will not bring them in due to the high mortality during shipment and the short life span. I was approached to bring some in for the thread starter but did not want to due to the mortality issue. I think that there is much more of a liability issue with lion fish and stone fish from a health risk view.
Dave
