Zabetos ((Zah-beh-tohs))

Basic Information

Anatomy

The zebatos is an extraordinarily sized water titan that lives within the salt waters of the sea. They are quadrupedal reptilians that have a long curved spine with massive spines poking out of the shell that forms along its back. Their feet are webbed and, along with their tail, have fins that they use to glide through water.

Biological Traits

It is thought that the zebatos were the progenitors for a multitude of ocean and land dwelling species due to fossile records. In fact there appears to be a variant of the zabetos that is pretty much the same outside of being about the size of a house, rather than the titans that lurk in the sea, however these variants are strictly land creatures, and lack a lot of the aquatic capabilities of the zabetos.

Genetics and Reproduction

Due to having a lifespan to match their large size, they seldom breed with one another. It isn't until much later in their life span will they attempt to draw in the opposite sex of their species in order to fertilize a single egg to lay at the bottom of the ocean. These eggs can lay dormant for hundreds of years, before finally hatching into a young zabetos.

Growth Rate & Stages

While a young zabetos is vastly smaller than a fully grown one, they are still referred to as a titan species for a reason, due to these newborns having a size that is comparable to a battleship. Due to being an apex predator, they are more than capable of hunting on their own fresh out of the egg, especially since by the time they hatch the mother is usually deceased from old age. The zabetos will begin to hunt immediately, eating and hibernating over a century as it begins to grow and mature into an adult zabetos, explosively sizing up into the titans that they are known to be.

Ecology and Habitats

While these creatures prefer the sea, and are normally found far below the surface where they will come into little contact with humans, they are capable of traversing land and have gone on rampages through coastal cities in the past. It's rare, but can occur, especially if a mother's egg has been taken from where it was laid. However, they normally remain out at sea where they passively hunt ocean dwelling species. It is not uncommon for them to rise to the surface to devour ships whole though.

Dietary Needs and Habits

These creatures, due to their size, require a substantial amount of food in order to maintain good health. For this reason, they have multiple sources of food they draw from, such as filter feeding, directly consuming other creatures in the sea, destroying ships and coastal cities, and even attacking one another.

Biological Cycle

The biological cycle of these creatures, mostly hibernation, is more prevalent in their young who are still pretty weak despite their size. A cycle that is present in the zabetos throughout its entire life is migrating from colder regions during the winter to the warmer climates around the equator, though this is more a reaction to the migration of other aquatic species rather than any need for them to remain in warmer climates themselves.

Behaviour

Generally these creatures are extremely passive towards everything unless they are aggravated by something, usually when directly provoked or when their young is threatened. Otherwise, they only tend to strike when looking for food. Something distinct they will do, a signal to any and all who hear it that a zebatos is on its way, is to emit a literally earth shattering roar that can cause earthquakes and tsunamis when emitted. This is more common when they are directly attacked, but is also a warning sign for coastal cities that destruction is imminent.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Unless they are searching around for a zabetos to breed with, these creatures are completely isolated from one another and independent. Even after breeding, the females will leave with the egg, never remaining around the partner they used to create it. This is to avoid overpopulation, which would lead to infighting among the zabetos as food inevitably begins to run out.

Facial characteristics

Their facial structure matches up with most other reptilian species, especially aquatic salt water ones. It has gills, nostrils, and valves in its throat for the purpose of pulling enough oxygen from the water to breath. It has a massive jaw and mountainous teeth. The zabetos also sports its infamous glowing red eyes, which are often the last things people see approaching from the depths of the ocean before their ship is attacked.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Due to the size of these creatures, the lack of procreation, and long lasting life spans, there are not a whole lot of them currently in the ocean--perhaps just a handful. Though, due to their size, this is a perfect balance for the rest of the creatures in the ocean. Otherwise, everything would go extinct since these titans would run rampant and consume everything they could find due to overpopulation.

Average Intelligence

The creatures may be monolithic in stature, but they don't appear to be any more intelligent than most other monsters similar to them. They only passively swim around the lower depths of the ocean until the time to feed arrives, from which they will rise up towards the surface in order to find a potential meal.

Lifespan

2000+ years

Average Height

2500+ ft

Average Length

3500+ ft

Average Physique

The physique of these creatures are what make them apex monsters within the world, which are hardly challenged by anything else on the planet. Due to being the size of a literal mountain, there is hardly anything that could ever hope to harm these monsters. Their size doesn't slow them down either, being able to cross incredible lengths of the ocean in short periods of time, making them a danger to all coastal civilizations--no matter their location.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

While the tint of their body color can shift around from ocean blues, greens, and teals, they don't tend to differ much more from those colors. On top of that they don't really have patterns either, making them some what difficult to distinguish from one another. Luckily there are so few, that the slight differences in color gradient can make them look different enough to distinguish.