Red Octopus

Description

Red Octopus

By Marc Alexander from his ‘In The Balance‘ series. Red Octopus, oil and silver leaf on canvas, 40cm by 50cm, (2015).

Red Octopus

The Red Octopus is also referred to as the Ruby Octopus which commonly occur in shallow-water on the North American West Coast. They generally grow to a mantle length of 8 to 10cm, and arm length of 30 to 40cm. Like all octopus the Red Octopus can change its colour and texture making its appearance highly variable. Colour can vary from a deep brick red, to brown, to white, or mottled mixtures of the three. The Red Octopus is a predator. As part of its feeding behaviour, it will pounce on prey and display a stereotypical sequence of colour changes at the moment of capture.
Its main threat is commercial fishing. I had lots of fun texturing the coral in this painting.