Emperor Lancelip

Artwork

Weight:
240lbs

The **Emperor Lancelip** (*Spiccalabrus imperator*) is an original species created and designed by TheAgent41. The Emperor Lancelip inhabits the *The Hole* universe, an original universe created by TheAgent41.

## Appearance and Anatomy

The emperor lancelip is the largest known species of lancelip in the genus Spiccalabrus, stretching just over six feet in length and weighing 240 pounds. The emperor lancelip is a silvery pisciform with a long, barrel-shaped body that terminates in a powerful muscular siphon, which it uses to propel itself forward at high speeds. It steers its body using the long paddle-shaped fins unique to its taxonomic family.

On either side of its mouth are three highly sensitive heat-detecting thermal pits. The mouth itself, like that of all pisciforms, is a featureless gaping hole with no teeth and no jaw muscles with which to close it. Because the lancelip is an obligate carnivore and doesn't filter feed, it has evolved a stomach like that of some herbivorous dipodes. This stomach is constantly contracting and expanding, and its inner walls are lined with hard tooth-like projections that chew up food that has been swallowed whole.

The most notable anatomical features of the emperor lancelip are its genus's trademark "lances". These spikes can be over a foot in length and are made of extensions of the lancelip's skeleton covered by a layer of thick, hardened keratin.

## Ecology

### Behavior and Intelligence

While most pisciforms are small filter feeders or ambush predators, the emperor lancelip is a fearsome predator that could accurately be compared to Earth's sharks or perhaps its sailfins and marlins. Living far out in the open ocean, the emperor lancelip spends most of its time patrolling the oceans of Achlys at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour, searching constantly for more food. They tend to travel in schools of six to ten individuals. Members of the school are free to come and go as they please, ensuring that there is a constant influx of new genetic material in each school.

### Diet

The emperor lancelip is a ferocious obligate carnivore that hunts using both its powerful siphon and its facial lances. When a lancelip spots a potential meal, it will use its siphon to build up a great amount of speed before ramming into its prey and impaling it on the spikes. It is usually able to dislodge its lances from its prey's body by pushing itself backward with its fins, but occasionally it is unable to do so. Unfortunately, such a lancelip has inadvertently marked itself for death, as the trail of blood seeping from the impaled corpse will likely lead the lancelip's own predators to it.

Emperor lancelips have also been observed using their siphons to propel themselves out of the water to catch airborne prey. There are two recorded instances of Montgolfier's airshooters being killed in mid-air.

### Reproduction

The emperor lancelip is a viviparous creature that mates primarily with the members of its own school. Like all other pisciforms, the lancelip mates by extending a flexible tube called a spermipositor from a small sheathe located where an Earth creature's tongue would be. These two tubes connect with each other and form a watertight seal to prevent sperm from leaking out.

As stated previously, lancelips give live birth and, unlike most other pisciforms, are parental creatures that actually raise their children to adulthood. Newborn lancelips are much larger than most other newborn pisciforms, being nearly a foot long. This is because lancelips only produce one offspring at a time rather than hundreds.

## Trivia

* The scientific name *Spiccalabrus imperator* loosely translates from Latin as "emperor spike lip".

## Gallery

Artwork