It’s the latest aquatic fashion statement among Chinese lovers of aquatic life: get a ping pong ball-sized blue-ringed octopus. This creature, while docile, also holds a venom potent enough to defeat any known antidote and kill as many as 26 grown men.
The blue-ringed octopus, so named because of the rings that turn dark blue when the mollusk is agitated, is found in the waters of the Indian and southwestern Pacific oceans. In China, it can be bought online for between dozens and hundreds of dollars, and the specimens are usually supplied from the southern, coastal province of Guangdong.
