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The Fire Urchin (asthenosoma varium)

Asthenosoma varium, called the Fire Urchin, is an echinoderm of circular shape slightly flattened dorsally. Regular in circumference, it can grow up to twenty-five centimeters in diameter. Exposed to open air, the Fire Urchin releases a characteristic and pronounced smell with a hint of iodine, silt and tar. It differs particularly from other echinoderms with its brightly colored coat. If its colors can change widely from one specimen to another, we almost always find dominants of red, yellow and orange, that gives it this inflamed impression. Its body is entirely bristled with short, thin, and extremely sharp spines that are loaded, from the root to the tip, with globular and translucent venom capsules reminding of strung beads, more or less colorful, the last of which, darker and darker, shine a bluish light. Its dreadfully toxic venom can cause the death of a human being in a few hours. It is a powerful anesthetic and hallucinogenic neurotoxin, which triggers a progressive paralysis of the neurological system. The poisoned subject is plunged into delusional apathy until complete cessation of the vital functions.