Consumers and seafood vendors have been told to be careful when buying octopus after a highly-poisonous blue-ringed version of the animal was found at a street market in Pathum Thani.
The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources issued the warning after being told about grilled blue-ringed octopus being sold at a night market on Sunday.
The blue-ringed octopus contains a dangerous poison that cannot be destroyed by cooking and for which there is no antidote.
This sort of behavior among Thai food vendors is becoming more common across the country as anything found for free is placed on sale and the consequences are never considered.
Sumana Khachornwattanakul, director of the Marine and Coastal Resources Research & Development Institute, said the woman who found the octopus and alerted the department was not sure if it was the poisonous type.
“The woman who bought it said it was among grilled seafood also being sold,” said Ms Sumana.
“The blue-ringed octopus is sometimes found in seafood markets and restaurants and vendors aren’t aware it is poisonous.”
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