Agaran
Agaran's are a species of Ekandra that lives around the southeastern area of the Kenrif continent. They live in both the oceans and rivers and are often spotted in large groups around brackish waters where the rivers and oceans meet. They are also spotted in larger lakes in the area.
They are a large species of aquatic lizard, growing to between 3 and 5 meters long and weighing between 250 and 1,000 kilograms. They can swim in excess of 60 kilometers per hour and are often seen jumping out of the water to great heights to go after their fleeing prey.
Their mouths are large enough to easily snap over a Regalti but the shape of the jaw and teeth are much better suited for eating smaller fish, which does form the primary part of the Agaran's diet. They are no danger to people. Other creatures this animal is known to hunt include cephalopods, jellyfish, and smaller ekandra. They have been known to leap out of the water to catch various flying lizards and birds.
Being one of the more intelligent varieties of aquatic lizard, this species is curious about the regalti and are often seen playing with people in shallow waters near beaches. This has led many regalti to call them Sherandra or Gentle Lizards. They are still quite large animals and sometimes tempermental and prone to attack if harrassed too much.
Injuries have occured, but they are usually quite minor bite wounds. These bites are similar to how Agaran's correct younger members of their groups out in the oceans if they are being a little too disrespectful or rowdy. No recorded deaths have ever been reported involving an Agaran.
In fact, Agarans have been observed helping regalti who dove a little too deep and are struggling to breathe or aren't swimming very well. This behavior has been observed being performed on other non-prey species as well. This empathy is the subject of debate within Collena's scientific community but early Regalti people have legends about this animal being a kind messenger of the gods.
Classification
Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Ekandra
Family: Sefenandra
Genus: Egalaria
Species: Agaran
Common Name(s):
Agaran(Vevari, Common)
Lizard-Dolphin(human)
Geographic distribution
Life Cycle
Agarans start their life cycles far upriver. They hatch in large leathery eggs under rocky soil near forested shores. They can hatch quite far away from the river as well, up to 300 meters in some cases. When they hatch they need to dig their way to the surface, then crawl their way to water. They are not always successful with this and don't always fine their way to the river. In early life, agarans have claws on their fins and can protect themselves for some time on land. The ones that do make it to a river spend the first few months of their lives in this water, slowly migrating to the sea.
Sometimes they don't make it to a river and end up in a small pond, which they quickly outgrow after a year or two and have to abandon in search of a larger body of water. Sometimes they make it to a large lake and they spend their lives there. Some of the largest specimens of adult Agarans have been found in lakes instead of the ocean. This is thought to be due to the lack of predators.
The Agarans that make it to the sea spend the first few years of their lives in shallow water or in the brachish areas of rivers and lagoons before they move out to deeper waters. Usually they have found a group of Agarans to swim with. to humans this group can be called a pod, because they are no different than a group of dolphins on Earth at this point. They spent a large part of their lives living and hunting together. Solitary specimens that spend their lives alone are also known, though even they will find a group temporarily when they reach maturity and are ready to breed.
by the time an Agaran is close to ten years old, they reach sexual maturity. Courtship rituals vary between groups of these animals but oftens involves a lot of quick swimming maneuvers and the males and females bringing each other gifts, usually fish. After they choose their partners, these agarans will swim off in pairs for several months, normally in the winter, making their way back to the rivers they were born near. Often the male stays behind and continues to roam the oceans while the female makes the journey alone. Some pairs have been known to travel together all the way though.
Agarans don't always return to the same river they were born in, and some have been known to migrate between lakes in the search for the perfect spot to lay their eggs. These animals might have small flippers, but they are well developed and powerful, able to easily hold their body weight for short periods of time. On land, agarans are quite slow and lumbering, but they are also much larger than any land predator so they are generally not harassed.
When the female finds the location where she wants to lay her eggs, she will spend several days digging a hole and laying her eggs. These animals can lay up to 60 eggs at a time. They will stay around guarding the eggs for a few more days before returning to the water. They can't survive on land for long because they are far too slow to hunt land animals.
The eggs are often buried sometime in the late spring. They won't hatch until the mid to late summer months depending on the temperature. The hotter the summer, the earlier they hatch. Then several dozen small baby, fish-like lizards will climb their way out of the dirt and start the cycle all over again.
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