Kaiyodo Aquatales bottle cap Japanese swellshark walkaround by Konimini

I remember Kikimalou wished a while back I do a walkaround of this one, so here goes. The pictures are quite appalling in quality, for which you have my apologies - but I expect us next to see proper sunlight here in January, so here goes anyhow, sooner (and by desklamp light) rather than much, much later.

The hatching Japanese swellshark (Cephaloscyllium umbratile) figurine by Kaiyodo is part of their Aquatales bottle cap series, and appears to have been sold at Enoshima Aquarium. This is written on the bottle cap, too, which is removable. The pegs at the figurine's base prevent it from standing level if displayed on its own, though.

The figurine comprises of a rock base, an arm of coral to which the egg case of the shark lies attached by curling tendrils, and the hatching shark itself. While the coral has little detail beyond the topographical, the egg case (or "mermaid's purse")  is made out of gradationally translucent plastic that lets light through to show the striations and slight mottling of the "collagen" of the case, as well as the dark form of the shark's body within. The shark has meticulously painted detail, and even the tendrils of the "devil's purse" have been painted without spillages, at least on my copy. I recommend the little sculpture - it is finely made, well-engineered and shows a visually curious and rarely-represented point in the shark's life cycle.

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For added interest, here is a video of a real swellshark hatching:


And a better view of the egg case:


And, finally, link to Wikipedia for more info on the species: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

A beautieful and detailed figurine and a very unusual specie!!Thank you for sharing:-)

It's incredible model, it looks like it's moving What a gem, congratulations Lea!

I don't know much about swellshark. But this piece really nice!

Beautiful model! Congratulations!

Great walk around of an unusual wildlife subject and also of an interesting piece.
I also enjoyed the additional information, video is really great!

Thank you Lea  

Beautiful and accurate as a resin model   ... And cheap as a toy  

Look at this, men of the West... And learn

Glad you all enjoyed it! It's a striking little sculpt, for sure.