HOME | DD

Description
This beautiful One of a Kind handcrafted sculpture of a Blue Ringed octopus is done in a hand mixed blend of different yellow high polymer clays that have been dusted with a yellowish-gold pearl powder. She's had blue rings embedded in the yellow and then painted over in a hand mixed blue-pearl paint around a shadowing of black pearl powder in the center of her tell-tale blue rings. Her suckers are done in night-glow and glow brightly in the dark!

This blue ringed octopus is roughly actual size, though may be a little larger. Most are about the size of a golf ball but there is another species that grows up to 8" across from tentacle tip to tentacle tip. This one measures as is at about 6" across and about 2" tall

(FROM WIKIPEDIA): The blue-ringed octopuses (genus Hapalochlaena) are three (or perhaps four) octopus species that live in tide pools in the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Australia (mainly around southern New South Wales and South Australia). They are currently recognized as one of the world's most venomous marine animals. Despite their small size and relatively docile nature, they can prove a danger to humans. They can be recognized by their characteristic blue and black rings and yellowish skin. When the octopus is agitated, the brown patches darken dramatically, and iridescent blue rings or clumps of rings appear and pulsate within the maculae. Typically 50-60 blue rings cover the dorsal and lateral surfaces of the mantle. They hunt small crabs, hermit crabs, and shrimp, and may bite attackers, including humans, if provoked.
The blue-ringed octopus is 12 to 20 cm (5 to 8 inches), but its venom is powerful enough to kill humans. There is no blue-ringed octopus antivenom available.
The octopus produces venom that contains tetrodotoxin, 5-hydroxytryptamine, hyaluronidase, tyramine, histamine, tryptamine, octopamine, taurine, acetylcholine, and dopamine. The major neurotoxin component of blue-ringed octopus venom was originally known as maculotoxin but was later found to be identical to tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin which is also found in pufferfish that is 10,000 times more toxic than cyanide. Tetrodotoxin blocks sodium channels, causing motor paralysis and respiratory arrest within minutes of exposure, leading to cardiac arrest due to a lack of oxygen. The toxin is produced by bacteria in the salivary glands of the octopus.

Description
This beautiful One of a Kind handcrafted sculpture of a Blue Ringed octopus is done in a hand mixed blend of different yellow high polymer clays that have been dusted with a yellowish-gold pearl powder. She's had blue rings embedded in the yellow and then painted over in a hand mixed blue-pearl paint around a shadowing of black pearl powder in the center of her tell-tale blue rings. Her suckers are done in night-glow and glow brightly in the dark!

This blue ringed octopus is roughly actual size, though may be a little larger. Most are about the size of a golf ball but there is another species that grows up to 8" across from tentacle tip to tentacle tip. This one measures as is at about 6" across and about 2" tall

(FROM WIKIPEDIA): The blue-ringed octopuses (genus Hapalochlaena) are three (or perhaps four) octopus species that live in tide pools in the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Australia (mainly around southern New South Wales and South Australia). They are currently recognized as one of the world's most venomous marine animals. Despite their small size and relatively docile nature, they can prove a danger to humans. They can be recognized by their characteristic blue and black rings and yellowish skin. When the octopus is agitated, the brown patches darken dramatically, and iridescent blue rings or clumps of rings appear and pulsate within the maculae. Typically 50-60 blue rings cover the dorsal and lateral surfaces of the mantle. They hunt small crabs, hermit crabs, and shrimp, and may bite attackers, including humans, if provoked.
The blue-ringed octopus is 12 to 20 cm (5 to 8 inches), but its venom is powerful enough to kill humans. There is no blue-ringed octopus antivenom available.
The octopus produces venom that contains tetrodotoxin, 5-hydroxytryptamine, hyaluronidase, tyramine, histamine, tryptamine, octopamine, taurine, acetylcholine, and dopamine. The major neurotoxin component of blue-ringed octopus venom was originally known as maculotoxin but was later found to be identical to tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin which is also found in pufferfish that is 10,000 times more toxic than cyanide. Tetrodotoxin blocks sodium channels, causing motor paralysis and respiratory arrest within minutes of exposure, leading to cardiac arrest due to a lack of oxygen. The toxin is produced by bacteria in the salivary glands of the octopus.