Grim Walker

Morsmessor crepusculi is a titanic predator that inhabits the deep abyssal plains of the cold king’s trench.
It hunts using its large mouth to suck in preys, grinding them alive through the lanial apparatus. It sometimes catches in diving equipment such as camera drones, even attacking small submergibles when hungry; while the weaker equipment gets easily destroyed by the animal, big manned vehicles tend to only suffer minor damage.
M. crepusculi is a lonesome creature that stays still for most of its life, moving only when strictly necessary; when moving, the creature walks on the ocean floor using its six lower fins (pectoral and anals) as legs.
First described in 2408 after a M. crepusculi’s body was found offshore, the skull of the original specimen is still on display in the oceanografic museum of Sheldontown, Yan.
M. crepusculi is often described as the bringer of death or a demon of the depths in Yanese folklore and is even “worshipped” by some fishing villages in the southern states of Yan.

Basic Information

Anatomy

• Rostrum elongated and flattened on the snout; relatively high cranial ridge.

• Small, grey eyes.

• Long teeth extruding frontally; overdeveloped lanial apparatus.

• Two dorsal fins; Dorsal I underdeveloped, growing on the first half of the back; Dorsal II much more developed than the first and growing on the Gill tail.

• Pectoral and Anal I and II extremely elongated with ventral pointing structures evolved from the manus.

• Gill tail short with underdeveloped Gill fan.

Genetics and Reproduction

Not much is known about this animal mating behavior.
It seems to enter heat in mid summer; the parapenis of the male can grow as much as four times the length of the body, probably to reach better the female reproductive system, seen as these amphibians can't swim.
A female lays from one to two eggs.

Growth Rate & Stages

Ontogenesis really visible from hatchling to adult.
Hatchlings are free swimmers with short Anal fins; the pectoral fins are oriented much like most other amphibians, laying on along the body.
Loss of natal aculeus at unknown age.

Ecology and Habitats

These are Hadalpelagic animals living below 6,000 m, deep in the Cold King's Trench.
They live on the bottom of the trench and are unable to swim, instead they slowly walk on the seafloor; they like large zones with lots of free terrain to walk in, even though they don't move that much.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Morsmessor crepusculi is an apex predator of its environment. They stay still most of the time, scanning the area around it for prey; they will hunt by grinding up the prey alive, creating a vacuum with the mouth to suck it in.

Biological Cycle

They seem to be periannial with no periods of lowered activity.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Lonesome animals.
They wont tolerate the presence of conspecifics

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Cold King's Trench, Tropical belt.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Very poor sight; Capacity to echolocate through electric signals.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Commensalistic relationship with many bottom feeding invertebrates.

Scientific Name

Eoichthyia; Tartarosomnia; Scutocephalidae; Calvatopinnoidea; Caligobelidae; Morsvectoridae ;Podovectorinae; Morsmessor; M. crepusculi

Lifespan

oldest specimen recorded: 82 years old

Conservation Status

DATA DEFICENT: not enough information on the animal populations to evaluate the conservation status
Population trend: UNKNOWN

Average Weight

900 to 1,300 kg

Average Length

6.5 m (male) , 9 m (female)

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Dark grey body