Sea Beetle

Sea Beetles are small swimming creatures that operate in a hive, living communally in nests built out of natural materials. They consist of three main castes of members; the queen, drones, and hunters. Hunters gather resources to feed the hive inhabitants, drones care for the young in development, and queens construct and expand the hive, while also being responsible for reproduction. Hunters also have a bite which can give a burning sensation to their victim, causing them to back down.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Sea Beetles all share a common anatomy of a pointed head, with four eyes, and numerous antennae near the mouthparts. They also have long streamlined bodies, with strong hind limbs, a fluke on their tail, and an extendable membrane between their forelimbs for propulsion. The queen has several spines on her head, and has a generally larger body. Drones have shorter heads, as well as weaker swimming appendages.

Genetics and Reproduction

In the hive, the only fertile members are the queen and the drones. Every once in a while, the queen will test the drone's capabilities to survive, and the ones who can survive despite being physically weaker than female Sea Beetles will pass. The queen hides in the hive, while the drones are tasked with finding and chasing her in the most unreachable of places, and each one who catches her gets to mate with her. Sometimes, the drones will unknowingly mate with a hunter who has returned to the hive, and fail this test. Once the test is over, the queen will go to the incubator to lay her hundreds of eggs.

Growth Rate & Stages

When Sea Beetles are newly hatched, they start out appearing as blind worms with stubby limbs, all dangling from the ceiling of the incubator. They are routinely fed by the drones that carry leftovers from the hunters' haul, before encasing themselves in amorphous sacs to metamorphose into their adult forms. Hunters are born much more often than drones, and often come out of their sacs much easier due to their large sizes. There is a chance for a hunter to accidentally grow into a queen when the hive is succeeding in its mission, and may attempt to overthrow the current queen, before she is sent off to build her own hive.

Ecology and Habitats

Sea Beeltes inhabit the Halocline Pits, and live in very specific areas. They favor building their hives somewhere where there is diverse terrain, and a lot of foliage to hide their hives. Some hives have been found near the underwater streams and lakes in their habitat, or on the islands in the middle of the giant river, only as a simpler defense against larger species that could trample the hive. The hive itself is made out of small pebbles that are welded together by the queen's saliva, having multiple living chambers for the inhabitants, a chamber for the queen, and an incubator for the young.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Hunter beetles will gather any resource they can find, but are known for searching for Black Tubers, as well as chunks of flesh from a carcass, namely Tusked Manatees and Prairiefish. When the hunters bring the food back to the hive, most of it is consumed by the other inhabitants, while some will go towards the queen and the young. When hunters are in the process of collecting food, they can easily be killed, mostly from being crushed by larger species feeding on their same food sources.

Biological Cycle

Eventually, when the hive's queen dies of old age, a hunter is selected to rule as acting queen, until a new one can emerge from her metamorphosis by chance. If some creature destroys the hive, killing the queen, the other members are forced to flee and leave the young to die. Eventually, the entire hive will die out.

Additional Information

Social Structure

This species builds hives as a means of protecting their communities, and ensuring the basic survival needs of their species. A hive forms when one hive is faring too well, causing a queen to be born when there already is one ruling the hive. If the new queen doesn't kill the old one and take over her position, she will take a team of drones and travel far away from her birth hive. When she finds a suitable area, she and the drones will begin forming a new hive out of pebbles and hardened saliva. After they have a large enough structure, the queen will mate and lay a batch of eggs, and will routinely bring resources back to them, until enough hunters hatch to do it for her. From there she will expand the hive, as the hunters and drones work together to raise the young.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Occasionally, Cave Stalkers will steal the resources preserved in Sea Beetle hives, distracting the hunters with the scent of meat left in an isolated area, before destroying the hive without getting attacked by the swarm. The drones are relatively harmless.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

These creatures have small glowing eyes through which they sense their surroundings, as well as a heightened sense of smell. Hunters and queens generally have more developed senses, while drones are nearly blind from spending their entire lives inside the hive.

Scientific Name

Thalassaskath alveare

Lifespan

Unknown

Average Weight

14 lbs.

Average Length

9 in.

Average Physique

Streamlined

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Blue shell, gold limbs and webbing, glowing white eyes

Geographic Distribution

• The Halocline Pits

Average Intelligence
Average