Hello everyone! I hope everybody is doing fine! I was thinking... do anyone know about blue-ringed O. strength venom in captivity? I read the venom is produced by a symbiotic relation between some bacteria in the saliva that the octopus gets in the wild, I was thinking of dart frogs, captive dart frogs doesn't produce any venom because of their diet. Could this be the same with the blue-ringed? I don't intend to own an octopus of this species, just curious about the subject. It would be interesting to read an article about it! Thanks! Have a nice week!!
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Blue-ringed toxicity in captivity
- Thread starter DanGz
- Start date
If someone is interested in this, I found this in an article from 2019:
TTX is found in a remarkably wide range of marine and terrestrial animals across disparate taxa; it is found not only in pufferfish, but also in a variety of vertebrates and invertebrates [38,39,40].
It is generally accepted that TTX is accumulated in TTX-bearing animals through the food chain, starting from bacteria as the ultimate producers of the toxin, although the exact biosynthetic and metabolic pathways of TTX remain unknown. However, it is also possible that TTX is not obtained via the food chain and is instead produced by symbiotic or parasitic bacteria that directly accumulate inside of the octopuses. It is not clear at present whether the toxins in our toxic octopus specimens were endogenous or exogenous in origin. Since octopuses are generally carnivorous feeders, it is more plausible that octopus specimens accumulate the toxin by feeding on toxic marine organisms in the sampling areas.
It is not uncommon for toxins to be transported and accumulated in food chains, particularly in marine biota, and feeding experiments may be useful for clarifying the origins of the toxins contained in toxic octopuses. Evidence of TTX-producing bacteria isolated from some TTX-bearing organisms, such as puffer fish and xanthid crabs, exists [41,42].
Although the origin of TTX in the venomous octopuses in this study remains unclear, TTX appears to be produced by bacteria in the posterior salivary glands of H. maculosa [23]. In our study, wide inter-specimen variations in toxicity were observed even within the same species (Table 1), suggesting that the level of TTX in toxic octopuses is related to some environmental factors, or that it comes from food. Nonetheless, the mechanism may involve factors other than the food chain. Further research to elucidate the associated mechanisms of toxification is now in progress. In addition, investigations on specimen-, location-, and size-dependent variations in the toxicity of H. lunulata are also needed, and results in comparison to those of the present study will be published elsewhere at a later date.
Full Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6563023/
TTX is found in a remarkably wide range of marine and terrestrial animals across disparate taxa; it is found not only in pufferfish, but also in a variety of vertebrates and invertebrates [38,39,40].
It is generally accepted that TTX is accumulated in TTX-bearing animals through the food chain, starting from bacteria as the ultimate producers of the toxin, although the exact biosynthetic and metabolic pathways of TTX remain unknown. However, it is also possible that TTX is not obtained via the food chain and is instead produced by symbiotic or parasitic bacteria that directly accumulate inside of the octopuses. It is not clear at present whether the toxins in our toxic octopus specimens were endogenous or exogenous in origin. Since octopuses are generally carnivorous feeders, it is more plausible that octopus specimens accumulate the toxin by feeding on toxic marine organisms in the sampling areas.
It is not uncommon for toxins to be transported and accumulated in food chains, particularly in marine biota, and feeding experiments may be useful for clarifying the origins of the toxins contained in toxic octopuses. Evidence of TTX-producing bacteria isolated from some TTX-bearing organisms, such as puffer fish and xanthid crabs, exists [41,42].
Although the origin of TTX in the venomous octopuses in this study remains unclear, TTX appears to be produced by bacteria in the posterior salivary glands of H. maculosa [23]. In our study, wide inter-specimen variations in toxicity were observed even within the same species (Table 1), suggesting that the level of TTX in toxic octopuses is related to some environmental factors, or that it comes from food. Nonetheless, the mechanism may involve factors other than the food chain. Further research to elucidate the associated mechanisms of toxification is now in progress. In addition, investigations on specimen-, location-, and size-dependent variations in the toxicity of H. lunulata are also needed, and results in comparison to those of the present study will be published elsewhere at a later date.
Full Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6563023/
Thanks for sharing that follow-up! A related thread here as well, related to tank-kept blue rings (only accessible to TONMO members, so you must be logged in to view):
tonmo.com
and also:
tonmo.com
Blue Ring Venom
I seem to remember reading somewhere on this forum a story about a guy having some problems a day or two after cleaning a tank a blue ring had been housed in. I dive in an area with blue rings (not greater), two days ago one crawled onto my buddy's camera. Today his knee is inexplicably...
tonmo.com
Nasty Blue-ring
There are currently four described species of blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena). Norman in his book "Cephlapods: A World Guide" figures five additional undescribed species and I've seen a couple of others. While all blue-ringed species that have been examined appear to have TTX, species and...
tonmo.com
Thank you Tonmo! both where really interesting!!Thanks for sharing that follow-up! A related thread here as well, related to tank-kept blue rings (only accessible to TONMO members, so you must be logged in to view):
and also:Blue Ring Venom
I seem to remember reading somewhere on this forum a story about a guy having some problems a day or two after cleaning a tank a blue ring had been housed in. I dive in an area with blue rings (not greater), two days ago one crawled onto my buddy's camera. Today his knee is inexplicably...
Nasty Blue-ring
There are currently four described species of blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena). Norman in his book "Cephlapods: A World Guide" figures five additional undescribed species and I've seen a couple of others. While all blue-ringed species that have been examined appear to have TTX, species and...
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