Aleicuda/Legacy

: Secret Mission: To unlock in gachas, players must complete 's secret mission by dealing 150 bleed in a single session.
== Description ==
=== Behavior ===
* The is an open ocean, surface/mid-water predator. It can hunt alone or in groups, the latter of which is typically led by one individual who coordinates hunts. The lead can be of either gender.
** In a group hunt, s can coordinate attacks on small schools of fish, with one acting as the main attacker and the others acting as supports to keep the fish in a tight ball.
** Lone have been observed working with Koipise to hunt fish, but this behavior is rare.
* can occasionally be seen cleaning its six pectoral fins with kelp. Also, it often rubs up on rocks or allows smaller creatures to pick parasites from its skin.
* is a vertical migrator and will move closer to the surface at night while staying slightly deeper during the day to avoid predators.
** Their main and most noteworthy predator is Axothan.
* will die if it fully dries out, which can occur if it accidentally beaches itself while gliding.
=== Artist Headcanon ===
* s can be seen as a good omen, as they are usually seen when fish stocks and prey are abundant!
== Appearance ==
The is a long creature with features reminiscent of a nothosaur, eel, lancet fish, and flying fish, with a head similar to that of a barracuda. It has a long neck and narrow head, with translucent fins on its head, neck, back, and tail. Three opaque fins line its stomach, while another three adorn the distal tail, resembling some kind of shark-like caudal fins. From the torso sprout three pairs of flippers, all of which have translucent membranes. Short spiked armor plates line its neck and lower body/tail base, while stripes are found on its torso and the tip of its tail. Its color palette consists of green, gold, white, black, brown, and grey.
=== Males ===
Males have an additional small translucent fin pair on their snout.
=== Females ===
Females have no additional features.
== Abilities ==
== Gameplay ==
=== Pros ===
The , being an aquatic with a decent appetite, can easily find food in its area, and even if it doesn't, it can live for a while without food; plus, as an aquatic, water intake is not needed. Being capable of eating on-the-run nullifies the risk of being defenseless while getting stuck mid-eating-animation and allows mobility and attacking while feeding. As an aquatic, fortunately, it doesn't need to deal with the stamina drain of being underwater, and as such, its stamina performance is better than a similar creature less focused on this habitat, especially while running, with its high running speed; partially compensating for its horrendous stamina. Inside water, its bad turn speed can be compensated by rotating on the height axis. Another advantage of living in the sea is that effects which can be quenched underwater, such as acid and fire, are not nearly as effective against the .
Its damage output is extremely high, which, paired with a decent weight, allows the to strike crippling blows against most targets, with Bleed being particularly effective at nullifying high-HP-regen and helping finish low-HP creatures off. Its HP regeneration is decent enough to help in healing during battle, while its Bleed Defense helps in resisting bleed effects which, while not really that noticeable as an adult, definitely are at younger stages thanks to its lower-than-average HP for an aquatic of its tier. Thanks to the Strength in Numbers ability, the more adult s in the pack, the more resilient and stronger the will be, amplifying HP, weight, damage, and status effects and thus making attacks more crippling and defense and grabs more powerful.
Its elongated bite and grab hitbox may allow the to eat, grab and attack for a far distance frontally, where it can bite without risking getting bitten by creatures with a similar-sized bite box. It also has Sand Breath which helps blur its targets' vision for a while, and it has a decent range coverage defense.
Its nightvision is good enough to detect creatures with Night Stalker ability without the huge debuff that creatures with better nightvision suffer.
As most water masses have a lower player density per litre, they can live relatively undisturbed by other players, which mostly occupy above-water areas. Due to the lack of traffic underwater, it can be a good spot to grow creatures for game currencies or special effects for a long time with little interruption, keeping the more sheltered while it grows.
=== Cons ===
Due to how ambush doesn't work unless initiated outside water, its ambush stat is, for the most part, useless except on risky situations outside water, where additionally its speed gets debuffed significantly, and the low stamina and turn speed become extremely obvious. Even inside water, the reduced total stamina makes it far easier to tire than any other aquatic and even a few semi-aquatics, leaving it at a disadvantage.
Considering its moderate-low weight and extremely low HP for aquatics of its tier, it points towards an ambush predator that attacks in numbers strategy. Anything that removes those advantages, like Bone Breaking removing the ability to run, or getting dragged outside water (which, due to its weight, can actually happen), will severely cripple its power and leave it weak to getting hit. Also, its stamina regeneration is not that good, so it can not only be tired easily but takes a while to recover from exhaustion unless it lays down.
Its Sand Breath is not nearly as damaging as more offensive breaths, so its most important factor, the blurring of vision, can be easily countered to an extent by people with experience in the game, for example, using sniffing to pinpoint their targets better.
Additionally, its elongated bite hitbox presents a disadvantage that may allow smaller/more agile creatures to attack close to the base of its neck without getting bitten in return.
== Carry-able Creatures ==
== Trivia ==
* Concept by HappyPoltergeist.
** was inspired by flying fish, barracuda, lancetfish, tuna, ribbon eels, and marlins.
** In the concept art of the Glimmer variant, the species is referred to as Alepicuda.
* currently borrows modified calls from Beezu and Lerachu.
* is the first fully-aquatic secret mission creature.
== Gallery ==
<tabber style="border:none;">
Main =
This tab is intended to present official concept sheets, color palettes, and Glimmer (if applicable).
AleicudaConcept.png|Aleicuda concept art
AlepicudaGlimmerConcept.png|Aleicuda Glimmer concept art
AleicudaPalette.png|Aleicuda's primary color palette
aleiglimmer.png|Default Glimmer day/night
Default Glimmer Aleicuda.png|Default Glimmer Aleicuda
|-|
Development =
This tab is intended to present anything showcased during the process of development, such as the creation of models, animations, and poses.
AleicudaRigged.png|Rigged Aleicuda 
AleicudaDev1|Clip provided by Triefelgrim (Wolfragon), CoS Discord, 2/28/2023
|-|
References =
This tab is intended to present anything to further observe a creature's design, inspirations, and changes in growth stages for reference.
JuviAlei.png|Juvenile Aleicuda
Aleicuda Juvenile.png|Juvenile Aleicuda (under view)
TeenAlei.png|Teen Aleicuda
Aleicuda Teen Underview.png|Teen Aleicuda (under view)
AdultFAlei.png|Adult female Aleicuda
AdultMAlei.png|Adult male Aleicuda
Aleicuda Adult.png|Adult Aleicuda (under view)
Aleicuda Male vs Female Designs.png|A closer view of Aleicuda's gender dimorphism
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Other =
Aleicuda Sand Breath.png|Aleicuda's Sand Breath ability
</tabber>
Category:Mission Reward/Legacy
Category:Glimmer/Legacy
Category:Reuses Calls