Dog Dies After Eating Deadly Sea Creature That Washed Up On Beach

A dog in Australia reportedly died after eating a deadly sea creature, while on a walk with her owner.

Kym Daly, an Adelaide man, said his border collie ate one of the world's deadliest fish that had washed up on the beach.

Daly had returned from Seacliff beach with his 9-year-old dog, when his pet suddenly became unwell as it had eaten a pufferfish that had washed up in seaweed.

“When we got home she vomited and I thought that was the end of it,” he told Nine News. "I thought she vomited up anything nasty she had eaten.”

However, he only found out about what the dog consumed after a while.

Within an hour, his pet dog died. It remains unclear when the incident took place. It is also not known if the owner had time to rush the pet to a vet.

“It was so quick,” he reportedly said. “It was hard.”

The pufferfish, which is believed to be one of the most poisonous species in the world, contains a toxin called tetrodotoxin on its skin and in its internal organs. The same poison is found in blue-ringed octopus also, according to the Animal Emergency Service.

The pufferfish, be it alive or dead, has enough poison to kill 30 people, and can be fatal to both humans and dogs, if eaten. Even chewing or licking the creature can cause paralysis of muscles.

“If animals are ventilated so they can maintain their oxygenation, the neuromuscular blockade will resolve within 36 hours,” Dr Georgina Child, a neurology specialist at the Small Animal Specialist Hospital, told Yahoo News Australia.

However, she warned the toxin has been known to kill animals “within minutes,” making it necessary to rush the animal to the nearest vet immediately after noticing symptoms.

“They may often vomit and become weak very quickly, so have difficulty standing,” Child said. “It affects their ability to move and then, depending on the amount of toxin absorbed, it can rapidly progress to them being unable to breathe.”

According to the Museum of Tropical Queensland, there are 57 species of pufferfish recorded in Australian waters.