The Krial
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Species name: Krial
Preferred Habitat: Underwater ruins
Recently discovered by an archeologist excavating ancient underwater ruins, the Krial are very mysterious, unusual creatures. After a year and a half of studies, scientists believe that much of the veil of unidentified facts surrounding the reptile-like amphibious animal have come to light.
Though the Krial tend to enjoy themselves most in aqua habitats with many caves, tunnels, and cliffs, they also clamber graciously onto land. The holes at the end of their snouts have small flaps that open and close as they do so, allowing them to breath above water and protecting them from drowning below. While this curious organism does have horns, it does not possess claws, instead wielding hardened scales pointed at the tip of each finger or toe. Even the tips of their fins have these shell-like coating.
Krial can often be seen using the fins flowing from their backs to speed themselves up and slow themselves down while swimming. To the surprise of our scientists, they found that the fins were semi-morphing, vaguely changing shape and often changing size to the whim of the Krial. When going onto land, the back fins sheath into the thick, hallow bone jutting from their backs, leaving only the hard coating at the tips sticking out. The tail fin as well, has interesting mannerisms, folding in upon itself when the animal feels the urge to do so. Their way of swimming can only be described as ‘flying underwater,’ said the archeologist who discovered the creature.
The coloring of the Krial seems very unusual at first glance, but upon further inspection, it was discovered that the marking colors varied with the light that hit them. From underwater, it seems, the belly of a Crial almost blends in with the shadowy water, the golden flecks shimmering like glimpses of sunlight that hit the surface. From the sky, however, the top of this unusual animal looks like the shadows of plants beneath the water as well. The reason the Krial has camouflage on both sides of its body is still unknown. It doesn’t appear to have any direct predators.
Also, the maw of Krial tend to be elongated, their jaws jutting out sharply in a bizarre fashion. Scientists say that this is because they extend their jaws to great lengths, often snagging and eating prey almost its size! Their rather long, nearly saber tooth fang ‘hooks’ struggling prey before the jaw snaps closed. Our archeologist discoverer says it tends to be rather gruesome, so she politely refused to give us more details.
Although goofy-looking at times, scientists say, the Krial can be unpredictable and violent at times, as well as docile and collected. They believe these animals have as vast amounts of personality as humans, and look forward to studying them more in the future.
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Anything I've done here can be altered as you see fit, of course. I was initially going to call it Jiggersnout, because the nose was so long, but I ended up changing my mind, as usual.