Grindylow | Creature 0

The top half of a grindylow looks vaguely like that of a goblin, but from the waist down, their bodies split into a tangle of suckered, wriggling tentacles. They dwell mostly in shallow waters both fresh and briny, including lakes, rivers, coastal regions, and near coral reefs. Grindylows generally organize into schools ranging from a few individuals to a few hundred. Smaller schools can sometimes be brought under the leadership of a powerful aquatic creature, though such alliances last only until the school faces a major setback, at which point the surviving grindylows scatter and form smaller schools of their own.
Grindylows aren't territorial, but they are pragmatic; while they rarely build permanent structures, they will adopt a good hunting ground for generations until driven away by predators. They often lair in mobile shelters, such as a sargasso of seaweed or the hull of an abandoned ship. They are skilled scavengers and hunters that eat anything they can sink their teeth into.
Grindylows respect the power of bigger sea predators but have a special hatred for squids (or anything they believe looks like a squid). Sailors plying grindylow-infested waters often paint the images of squids on the bottoms of their hulls in hopes of warding the little terrors off. While this can keep smaller schools at bay, it can also backfire, potentially inciting larger groups to gather for a coordinated attack; this becomes especially more likely if the ship's route becomes predictable. This hatred of squids does not extend to other tentacled creatures; grindylows consider octopuses to be the epitome of grace and power.