Barnacle the Rockshelled Sea Whelk

## Barnacle

Artwork

"**Holy Neptune that snail has 3 eyes!**"
—Steen, upon seeing Barnacle for the first time

**Barnacle the Rockshelled Sea Whelk** is an original character designed by Frostbite\_Carno. Barnacle resides in the Oceania universe.

He is a sea whelk that is Sapphire's friend and pet.

A long time ago, humans practically ruled the planet, choking the skies and devastating the lands for their own unfounded gains, until one day, they completely collapsed upon themselves, and all they thought they accomplished disappeared. Now only a few hundred humans walk the Earth, back to living the old fashioned way, simply salvaging what they need. Meanwhile, the Earth healed itself. The forests regrew, the skies cleared up, but the oceans? The oceans, the lakes, and all other ways of water... Began to change. Mysteriously, after the human race's downfall, most of the fish were uninterrupted, until years later, they changed along with the wide and watery world. They became smarter, bigger, evolved. When the last few humans caught wind of this, they were frightened, but after an awkward few introductions, everything was settled. The humans swore to their new scaly neighbors that they'd never ravage the lands or the seas ever again, and their new aquatic friends took well to that. Ever since, Merfolk and Mankind lived peacefully, but how much longer will this veil of sweetness keep things from going rotten? Only time will tell. As of now, humans live agricultural, simple lives, sustaining themselves in the least naturally negative ways possible. Such as growing, tending, and eating vegetables, and only building and crafting what they need. Meanwhile, the Merms... Well... No one knows what they do besides swim out there, but as far as the humans are concerned, they're just glad they're on good terms with the sea critters

## Biography

He was separated from his mother and siblings in an attack from another sea whelk. he slithered around on the ocean floor eating what he could find. One day he stumbled upon a place that would seem like a good home, and is now living at an old sunken van he found. He soon found out that this new home was already inhabited by a merperson, but after said merperson gave him some mussels to eat, he soon warmed up to them.

## Appearance

Barnacle is a sea snail that has a blue cone-shaped shell that looks identical to a rock, with plants, coral, and barnacles all over it. he has bright orange skin with red stripes, with a subtle red facial mask and ringed tail, while also having glowing beady black eyes with green irises and violet eyelids. The inside of his mouth a green and he has a long green tongue. he also has 2 barbels (whisker-like appendages) on his upper lip, and two antennae atop his head, which can signal emotion. He looks just like a rock, and tends to camouflage himself.

This individual has a weird genetic mutation, he has 3 eyeballs instead of the usual 2.

## Personality

Barnacle is very loyal to Sapphire and acts like a typical dog or cat. While he is well behaved at times, he can have quite the attitude and can become very mischievous and somewhat sneaky, especially if food is involved. and he also has those antennae on the top his head that act as ears so they can signal emotion and curiosity, perked up when happy or alert, laid down when threatened, drooping when sad etc.

## Abilities

**Natural Abilities:**

* **Camouflage:** he has a *very* rock-like shell, and when fully retracted into the shell, he is indistinguishable from one.
* **Venom:** he has a long, prehensile tongue/proboscis that is used to catch prey and inject venom by shooting a barbed dart-like “tooth” at about 400 miles per hour into victims
* **Prehensile Proboscis:** The afore mentioned proboscis is long and prehensile and can manipulate objects, granting him dexterity that gives him the ability to open doors, jars, bottles, latches etc
* **Bubble Blowing:** He can spit out green slime bubbles to help him trap prey before impaling it with his sharp tongue
* **Extendable stalk eyes:** if needbe, to get a better look at something, he can extend his eyes to survey an area.
* **Darkvision:** can see in the dark
* **Ultra-violet vision:** Barnacle can see light frequencies that most other creatures cannot, which can be useful when looking for specific items or finding secret areas.
* **Ocular Illumination:** His eyes are perpetually glowing
* **Eye Lights:** He can light his eyes up and emit a bright light, similar to headlights.
* **Intelligence:** is smart and good at problem solving
* **Sensory Antennae:** he is able to sense vibrations in the ground and water with his antennae
* **Pedal Mucus:** He can attach himself to a hard substrate, like rocks, boat hulls or pilings using pedal mucus on his foot-like appendage, and its very hard to take him off.
* **Digging:** Barnacle can burrow into sand or substrate to hide if need be.
* **Speed:** despite being a snail, is surprisingly fast and hard to catch, being able to slither at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour.
* **Indestructible Shell:** He is extremely resilient, unbelievably so in fact. When retracted into his shell he is nearly indestructible and can survive just about anything without suffering harm. Similar like a cockroach or much like a tardigrade
* **Fire breathing:** Giant rockshelled sea whelks can breathe fire (yes, underwater)

**Unique Abilities:**

* **Third Eye**: As long as he has come in contact with a specific item before, Barnacle's third eye is able to help him search for it in the world like a metal detector or radar, finding the nearest one. More impressively, Barnacle's third eye allows him to have glimpses of the future every once in a while.

**Skillset:**

* **Tuck & Roll:** if Barnacle retracts into his shell and leans forward, he can roll away in his shell along the ocean floor pretty fast. Not that he was slow to begin with, but this mode of transportation is a lot quicker and requires much less energy then slithering. He learned this technique from Sapphire, who in turn learned it from his friend Steen.

## Relationships

### Family

* **Unnamed mother and siblings:** family
* **Sapphire the octomaid:** Owner
* **Bubble's the Giant Seahorse:** Adoptive Brother

### Allies

* **Sapphire the octomaid:** Owner
* **Bubble's the Giant Seahorse:** Adoptive Brother
* **Steen's pet worm:** Friend
* **Steen the hermit crabmaid:** Any friend of Sapphire's is a friend of his
* **Heikala the Lobstermaid:** Any friend of Sapphire's is a friend of his
* **Isura the Mako Sharkmaid:** Any friend of Sapphire's is a friend of his

### Enemies

* **Sapphire the octomaid:** (Formerly)
* **Bubble's the Giant Seahorse:** (Formerly)

## Trivia

* Was created on August 22, 2022, and drawn on August 26, 2022
* I always like to imagine if my OC's had voice actors/actresses, and for This little dude, well obviously he cant talk, but I do imagine him making raccoon noises, such as this, and this.
* I imagine his species being the underwater equivalent to a raccoon or black bear.
* He has the same levels of indestructability as tardigrades.
* Sapphire initially named him Rock because he looks like one, but then after a while started calling him Barnacle as a nickname cause of the many barnacles on his shell. although he does still sometimes refer to him as Rock sometimes.

## Gallery

BarnacleBarnacle SketchesBarnacle chillin with Steen's WormA Get Well Soon Card made by my good friend ProfessorPuffNadder (I had pneumonia at the time) featuring Barnacle getting into a fight with some other snails.Barnacle and BubblesSapphire, Barnacle, and Bubbles together