Octalus

Octalus hydraia

Octalus is a strange cephalopod with a several unique adaptations to the ocean environment surrounding Skull Island. Unlike other cephalopods, the mouth of an Octalus is not located at the center of its tentacles, instead it is located higher up on the mantle and instead of a beak its mouth is more jaw-like and it's lined with teeth-like structures, its eyes have also migrated more inline with the mouth, this gives its more binocular vision to snare prey. The mantle itself has adapted to appear more like the head of a terrestrial animal, and stands at a high of 10 meters. Also unlike most other cephalopods, Octalus possesses 10, 30 meter long, tentacles, 4 of which have what can only be described as secondary mouths, all containing teeth-like structures, these mouths lead to a stomach-like sac that dissolves the flesh of prey off the bones, after which the remains are spit out, these mouthed tentacles seem to act on their own accord when the creature as a whole is not active, the underside of the tentacles aren't covered in suctions cups, instead are covered in spear-like spikes used to impale prey when entangled and prevent escape. These creatures tend to spend most of their time on the ocean floor, however they are highly aggressive when hunting, several specimens have attacked the observation fleet of KRS Thanatos. Octalus are capable of staying out of water for an indefinite amount of time by absorbing oxygen from the air through their skin. After mating and laying eggs, females will watch over them until they hatch even if they risk starving in the process. Due to their documented aggression towards ships, one designated Kong-class Destroyer; the GDFS Argonautica is to monitor all known specimens to prevent surprise attacks.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Coleoidea
Superorder: Octopodiformes
Order: Hydraoctopodidae
Family: Hydraoctopodinae
Genus: Octalus
Species: O. hydraia