Anemata

Anematas are a sea dwelling species, living usually in tribes of up to 30+ members. They live within a community to share jobs that need to be done for survival. Going out for them can be quite risky as they only grow up to 1 meter and apart from a few poison needles and a stunning poison in their fangs, they're quite defenseless. They love to build their little colonies in caves with an underwater entrance to deter enemies from getting to them. Anemata live either in deeper sea regions or shallow-ish sweet water basins that connect to the sea or other coastal areas. Clothing is not necessary but also not unusual as they love to collect and fancy themself with accessories.

Appearance

Anemata are Seaslug Gecko Otter hybrids, so they can have vastly different appearances based on where they live and what they consume. Some general landmarks for traits would be:

Feelers

Little sensitive buds on top of their head, can move them around to feel things such as air current, water temperature and more. In the dark they use them to navigate while their eyes are not much of help. They're soft and jiggly, sensitive and very important to proper navigate their surroundings.

Forehead Marking

They have forehead markings, they can be small symbols but the most common are 2 dots above the eyebrows.

Ears and Gills

Their ears are very small and you can mostly only see their external gills. Anematas have fully functioning lungs for land trips and mostly only hold their breath for short water trips, but for longer trips they start breathing through these external gills, much like axolotl. Don't be mistaken though, while they can stay underwater for longer times, they do not live solely underwater completely, they need at least a dry place to sleep in.

Cheeks

Littered with sensitive hairs/small feelers, they are do the same as feelers, just fluffier.

Arms

Anematas have 6 arms. They stay rather close to the bottom and grapple onto the floor as they push themselves forward, kind of torpedo-ing across the sea floor like a squid or otter. The gatherers of the tribe usually hugs their findings or kids close with their lower 4 arms while the front 2 arms do the work of pushing.

Tail

Their tails are thick and oval shaped. The thickness comes from nutrients that are stored in their fat tail for the winter, as they’re dormant once the temperature becomes too cold. The floaty and soft fins on the side help them float across the water smoothly + elevates the tail to a comfortable level while swimming. Losing their tail is deadly to them.

Fur

Their fur is thick to keep water from soaking in. Additionally, prior to swimming they coat themself with a layer of water repellent saliva. They often help each other out during this and form bonds that way- its a bit of a grooming ritual as well. Out of the water, once they’re dry, their fur becomes quite fluffy even though it’s still very thick and strong. Their stomach has a very small amount of fur and its overall just more like soft fluff on the skin.

Eyes

Anematas have a multitude of eyes. When they’re in dangerous territory, they move slowly and can have a look in every direction without moving. They have two eyelids, a transparent one to protect from debris in the water and the outer one to fully close them.

Pattern

Anematas primarily have patterns and colour on their back. Enemies see the back covered in warning colours as well as all the eyes and get scared or at least put off by them. The belly is primarily just one colour and usually never or very slightly patterned.

Diet

Their diet mostly consists of algae and plants. But they are omnivores so if they come across bits of meat or fish, they will also indulge in that. But as they are not really made for carnivorous hunting, they most often just pick what others left over. Their most loved food is by far crustaceans along with algae. They are often caught licking stones for minerals, as their rough tongue scrapes off parts on the surface. It is important for them to get the right kind of nutrients or they will lose their colorful coat. These colors are very important as they indicate their health quite a bit.

Relationship and Reproduction

Anematas are quite family oriented. They often only stay with one partner and that for their whole life. They show their affection mostly by grooming each other and hugging while pressing their paw pads together, or letting their feelers touch. They propose by finding anything shiny. The shinier the better (or just pick what your partner likes).

They are only fertile once every two years near spring. Anematas usually can have up to 2 kids per birth, with which they will raise for 16 years until they look after themself. The kids still live with them regardless as they are in a colony, but they have to pull their own part now. Life expectancy is around 90 years. Anematas sexually mature in their late teens, so around the 20 year old age. They are not able to reproduce prior to that. Household Labour is not divided by specific genders, it is quite equal and everyone does everything. If something needs to be done, somebody just does it.

Society 

Anematas live in tribe-based colonies. They're not exactly amazingly advances yet they are generally a very progressive society. They're all about sharing and helping one another. Very Social in Work, Family and Love. Any kind of couple is welcome, the only thing they do not tolerate at all, ever is cheating. ohoho cheating is so frowned upon in their society that you better leave and look for somewhere else to live because they will exclude that Anemata into oblivion. Cheaters rarely make a comeback and if they do, they had to put in a lot of work and a lot of apologies. Truth and Honesty is what they live by, so lying in general about anything isn’t the best way to get close to them. 

Leaderships are more like village elders taking the role of a leader as they have the most experience. They have many customs and a wild interest in jewelry and clothing which they sometimes wear outside of the water only for fashion purposes. Arts, Music and more are valued quite a bit, since a Culture that can afford to live out Art and the likes, must be rich and doing well. They price themself with that image

TBA-!