This nocturnal octopus, identified by its white spots, is smaller and thinner than the day octopus. An octopus catches prey by pouncing on it, then enclosing the prey in the web between its eight arms. Such a bite delivers a paralyzing venom from the animal's salivary glands. Hawaii's octopuses all carry venom. None however, contain the potentially lethal tetrodotoxin of Australia's blue ringed octopuses, the only octopuses in the world known to fatally bite humans.
Local fishermen report that most bites come from the night octopus.
Typically, fishermen wade onto shallow reef flats, either spearing or catching octopuses by hand. In its death struggle, an octopus sometimes tries to bite the hand that holds it. To subdue this writhing, mucus-covered creature, some fishermen bite the octopus between the eyes. If the animal is handled gently, it rarely bites. Octopus bites mostly occur when someone harasses them.