A deadly sea creature has been spotted at another popular swimming area this year - this time at Ramsgate Beach.
In January this year, a woman's daughter unknowingly picked up a shell with a blue-ringed octopus hiding inside at Salmon Haul Reserve, Cronulla.
Again just recently, on Mother's Day, May 12, Ramsey Sim, of Dolls Point, was this time the lucky one who escaped serious injury - or even death.
He noticed the tiny octopus, which turns bright blue when threatened, on the sand close to the shoreline - and it was very much alive.
"I almost stepped on a live blue-ringed octopus that was washed up, just across from Pine (Cook) Park," he said.
"My family and I frequent the beach regularly. We spotted it in the water couple of weeks prior before seeing it again washed up on the beach.
"At first it looked like a baby brown coloured octopus. When I came close to it the blue rings came out which is what it does when it's about to attack.
"I was running on the beach with my two-year-old daughter Estelle, who ran just by it. Very close call. I moved it onto the rocks with a toy shovel so no one would step on it."
A blue-ringed octopus is tiny but has extremely deadly venom.
Bayside Council also posted a warning to beach-goers on its Facebook page after the discovery.
