blue-ringed octopus

English

Etymology

From blue +‎ ringed +‎ octopus. From being an octopus with very prominent bright blue rings all over its body.

Noun

blue-ringed octopus (plural blue-ringed octopuses or (nonstandard) blue-ringed octopusses or (nonstandard) blue-ringed octopi or (nonstandard) blue-ringed octopii or (rare) blue-ringed octopodes or (rare, nonstandard) blue-ringed octopus)

  1. Any octopus of the genus Hapalochlaena, with distinctive blue rings, that carry the highly poisonous venom tetrodotoxin (TTX).
    • 2017 August 9, Mark Carnall, “Why do cephalopods produce ink? And what's ink made of, anyway?”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      In terms of diversity, cephalopods include the egg case making argonauts, shelled nautiluses, venomous blue-ringed octopuses and enigmatic giants like the giant and colossal squid. […] The blue-ringed octopus Hapalochlaena lunulata has tetrodotoxin, the deadly toxin it also releases in a bite, in their ink but the concentrations and effect in inking are not known.

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References

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