Carsanyo

It's well known on Vriddasa's northern coastline that you do not turn your back on the ocean for two reasons: one is sneaker waves, and two is the fact that a carsanyo can emerge from the water just as smooth and silent as a professional diver can enter it. They aren't fast-moving creatures and do not have to be. If you escape the reach of their enormous, powerful claws, the projectile spines on their backs will come for you next.

Basic Information

Growth Rate & Stages

In their juvenile stage, carsanyo are near indistinguishable from other crabs. It is only with age that they start to grow bigger and bigger, towering twice as tall as your average humanoid. It takes approximately seven years to reach full adult size, but it is believed they will continue to grow, albeit at a slower rate, until they die.

Dietary Needs and Habits

A carsanyo's diet is more similar to that of sharks than to ordinary crabs. They eat large fish such as sturgeons and sunfish, various marine mammals, and the occasional seabird.

Biological Cycle

Scientists are not entirely sure how frequently carsanyo molt after they have grown past the juvenile stage. From hatching to 4 years of age, they may molt multiple times per year at a similar rate to ordinary crabs, slowly to approximately once per year from 4-10 years. After that, they are unable to be safely held in captivity, and their molting in the wild is much more difficult to track, but is believed it continues to slow, occurring perhaps every two or three years.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Some have attempted to use the carsanyo as a food source, and while they are edible, their aggression and difficulty to track has made them into a less than reliable resource. Even with modern technology, hunts often take a lot of time and, successful or not, usually result in people getting seriously injured.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Within 50 miles of the northern Vriddasa coastline

Civilization and Culture

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Most humanoids believe the best interactions they can have with carsanyo is none. Their inhabiting much of Vriddasa's northern coastline is part of the reason that in spite of travel by boat being faster, many choose to travel by land because of how much safer it is. Any boat staying far enough away from Vriddasa will have a long, arduous journey without resupplying, but any that does resupply risks encountering the carsanyo as they do.

Lifespan

30 years

Average Height

12 feet

Average Weight

6600 pounds

Average Length

20 feet

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Grey backs, off-white underbelly, blue legs with orange accents around the claws and outer edges of the carapace.