Teryxes

This is a species by Morpho\*Aurora. They are currently undergoing a revamp, and will not be open until the revamp is mostly complete.

## Rules

Permission is required for:

* Details that may be considered excessive (ask if you think yours might be)
* Hybrids
* Deities
* Royalty (if they have that)

Do not add huge, implausible features on, such as land creature wings. If you have something that you think is borderline implausible, ask me if it’s allowed or not.

Feel free to play around with adding extra features, such as antennae and extra fins, and even extra eyes and wings now that mutations are more common.

## Species Account

### Lifespan

150 years (average), 240 years (oldest recorded)

## Other

### Territory

Almost everywhere, especially in tropical oceans

## Appearance

Teryxes have varied appearances, and can have unique features, such as angler lights or antennae, that not all individuals have. Their body shape and size, head shape, and more can vary a lot. However, there are some things that all members share.

Teryxes have an almost serpentine body shape, but not quite. They have a long tail, and a body that is thicker than the tail, but not nearly as much as land creatures. The tail is lizard-like, but a bit flattened on the sides. Their necks tend to be long, but not always, and are of varying thickness.

The head shape varies a lot, but always has a main head part and a snout, which can appear joined (like a shark) or have a slope that separates them (like a wolf). The snout varies in length, sometimes being long and sometimes barely existing at all. Other things on the head have a lot of variation as well, such as tooth shape, eye size, and mouth size, but it doesn’t stop there. The eyes vary in exact shape, but tend to be round like fish eyes. The eyes don’t have sclerae, and can have irises of any color. The pupils vary in shape, and an eye can even multiple pupils. The nostrils are small and don’t have any kind of nose surrounding them, and the ears resemble frog ears. There are four bioluminescent dots below the eyes that light up in the dark. There is a different color and shade for each dot, which is unique to each Teryx and used as an identifier when Teryxes are in dark places or at night when they can’t see each other.

Teryxes have two front legs, and no back legs. The front legs are of medium length. Their hands are semi-webbed, and have four digits (three fingers and a thumb). The digits don’t have any kind of nails or claws, like frog fingers, but more dextrous. Instead of back legs, there are two large wing-like fins. These fins vary in shape, but are always big enough and the right shape to propel the Teryx through the water, and not too big or fancy to get in the way. They can be folded and extended like wings.

A Teryx has many fins on its body, which all vary in shape and size. There is a fin crest running down the neck to the back and tail, and sometimes a matching one on the underbelly. There are fins on the backside of the arms, and sometimes a fin ruff behind the ears. There is always a fin at the end of the tail, resembling a fish’s tail fin, or sometimes a shark or dolphin’s flipper. Sometimes, a Teryx will lack find in places where most have them, such as the back, but they always have a tail fin.

Teryxes are covered in scales. These scales can be somewhat large (but not huge) or so small that it’s almost like smooth skin. They tend to be small, but visible. The scales are round and even vary in size in different places on the same body. They don’t overlap. The scales have varying degrees of iridescence, ranging from dull to very shiny.

Teryxes can be pretty much any color or pattern. They can resemble the patterns of other sea creatures, be completely unique, or even combinations of different creature patterns or unique and creature patterns. They can be bright or dull colors, and everywhere in between.

Other details can appear on Teryxes, such as antennae, more bioluminescence, or axolotl gills, as long as they’re not too excessive and are still recognizable as a Teryx (keeping the basic body shape and features). Large, inconvenient mutations, such as extra heads/eyes/limbs and telescope goldfish eyes, used to be very rare. Recently, they have been becoming much more common because of chemicals and radiation in the ocean, which Teryxes are especially affected by.

The appearance of a Teryx varies slightly depending on where they live. For example, a deep-sea Teryx might have more bioluminescence, dark colors, and huge eyes, while a coral reef Teryx might be more colorful and have fancier fins. Extra features are usually based on environment, such as an anglerfish light being on a deep-sea Teryx or whiskers being on a bottom-feeding open-ocean Teryx.

Teryxes come in different sizes, ranging from border-collie size to great-white-shark size. Teryxes that aren’t fully grown or very old can even go beyond these extremes.

## Abilities and Weaknesses

* Breathe underwater
* Poor sense of smell
* Average eyesight and hearing (except for deep-sea Teryx)
* Can feel electromagnetic fields from living things, which is amplified if the Teryx has antennae or whiskers
* Can store water inside gills for about twenty minutes to breathe on land before suffocating
* Can’t fly, but can swim quickly and agilely with fins
* Can feel the general health of an oceanic area
* Extremely sensitive to chemicals and pollution
* Can walk on land a little bit, but it’s very slow and draggy
* Some practice magic, but this is not a natural ability and has to be learned

## Hybridization

Teryxes cannot naturally hybridize with other species, as there are none that are very closely related to. However, they can hybridize with other species if magic is used.

## Trivia

* Teryxes are a part of the jawed fish supraclass. They are descended from an extinct order and are not closely related to anything in particular, but are the closest to coelacanths.

## Gallery

An colored headshot example of a Teryx by MorphoA selection of uncolored Teryx example headshots by Morpho.An uncolored fullbody example of a Teryx by Morpho.