Stulluvese

Basic Information

Anatomy

A Stulluvese has the nickname of "Skully/Skullys" for a reason. There anatomical design shows them looking much like a human skeleton, however the parts are a little different from how humans use them.
The brain is the biggest part of the animal, bulging out of the "eye sockets" and having, on average, two differing colors between the left and right side. 
The creature has about 32 small eyes in the area where a human would have teeth. These eyes, while small, can look at colors, wavelengths, and other motions that are not able to be seen by the average being (or, in some cases, they have one of the same ways to look at the world around them, but not all at once.)
They have a slight "dress" which is made of a living muscle that helps them regulate which direction they want to move in. 
The section of a skull that has "ears" is where they eat and released waste from; the left side swallows water with morsels and the resulting push of waste is the power to move. 
For a long time, when this creature was washed up on shore, it was thought to be a skull from an unlucky human. The truth only came out when landdwellers began to speak with mer, and mer used this animal to help with communications.

Genetics and Reproduction

This species reproduces once a year, when the females gathering in a group and squirt their eggs onto rocks and coral nearby. Then, with the scent of release wafting in the currents until it reaches the males of the species (during which the females leave the area). The males swim to the place and release their seeds. The eggs are fertilized and most of the males swim away. 
At this point of the reproduction process, there are some males and females that change their gender to a nuale [new - ale]. (If the fish is an older one, they might have been that gender from previous years, and have followed the males to the egg laying ground). These nuales are in charge of defending the fertilized eggs until they hatch, which usually takes about two months.

Growth Rate & Stages

• An egg is squirted onto a rock or piece of coral
• 2 weeks later, seeds fertilize the egg, if lucky
• For the next two months the eggs develop (unfertalized eggs are eaten by the defending/guarding nuales)
• The eggs hatch and "hatchlings" swim free. During their first year of life they grow to be about ten times the size they are when a hatchling. 
• Hatchlings, at about a year old, develop into a gender (usually male or female, but some have been observed through telescopes and cameras to be nuales). 
• After an additional two years, they become the weight needed to spawn eggs/seeds or to defend.
• They will spend about fifteen years as an adult, and then die around at around twenty years of age. 

Ecology and Habitats

The optimal environment for this species is in waters which hold rocks or corals ranging in mild temperatures (warm and cool are okay, but the eggs cannot survive in hot or cold temperatures). 
The ocean is their home, however, and when they are adults they'll move away from the hatching grounds to spend their life floating through the waters. [Hatching grounds change each year and it seems areas are given a "rest" period of 5-7 years for food levels to stock up again].

Dietary Needs and Habits

Part of the reason these creatures roam the watery roads is because they don't store their food and are constantly looking for new food sources. Mer have taken this idea and expanded on it, creating gardens with food sources and rewarding the Skullys with delicious tasting food when they do translations well. 
Most of the food Skullys enjoy are high in protein, so to attract the creatures to their gardens, mer plant sweet types of seaweeds, which attract protein sources, and the little bits of plants (nibbled on by underwater herbivores), make the perfect dessert.

Biological Cycle

Not much happens with seasons and biological cycles - there are not many "seasons" in the ocean. However, the Stulluvese are very reactive to temperature changes as they grow older, and those near the end of their life cycle tend to stay in shallow waters to better regulate their temperature.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Social structure is seen with the heaviest weighing fish being the one that "commands" the others. Genetics play a bit of an important role in this, but usually weight is gained by being smarter than prey. 
There have been cases of Skullys joining mer for a few years while they are young adults, using the opportunity to fatten up, and then floating off to join a nearby colony.

Domestication

This species is seen to have too much intelligence to be "domesticated" as a whole - however, many members of this species choose to stay with mer and allow themselves to enjoy a domesticated life.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

The mer use this species as a way to communicate with others that don't share their language.

Average Intelligence

The three brains which the Skullys use lead to the idea that they have a high intelligence - however, tests show that "intelligence" depends on what is being tested.  
Stulluvese are high with these types:

• Social Intelligence - they stay with their genetic family until they become an adult, and then usually keep to themselves until it becomes time to breed. However, after breeding, many will group up again (into much smaller groups ranging from 6-10 creatures), and will interact with this group for as long as they wish.
• Information Intelligence - the amount of information that is coming in (and going out), is a very high amount. [Theories are that being a conduit to this amount of intelligence is part of the reason that they do not have societies like mers or landdwellers.  
• Sight Intelligence - while the idea of figuring out what to do with all the information coming in from 32ish eyes seems like overkill, they are wired to open the eyes they wish to look through and to keep at least two-thirds of them closed. 

When being compared to mers or human children, they have the average intelligence of a six-year-old mer or a ten-year-old human. 

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Out of their sensory and extrasensory capabilities, the following lists goes from strong to weak: 

1. Sight - with the 32ish eyes they have, they can see small, large, radioactive, etc. Mer who live near their creatures in the wild say it seems the creatures can sense the future. 
2. Psionic powers - the bugling brain they have is actually the sight of three different brains, each with their own stem. The left brain concentrates on pushing out thoughts, the right brain concentrates on receiving thoughts, and the hidden brain is responsible for creating thoughts. [some people wonder how well the "creation" is doing since this species doesn't seem intelligent.]
3. Taste - using their mouth, they can taste small droplets in the water, and even electrical currents. 
4. Touch - they are very reactive when something touches them, but since they have no limbs to reach out and touch something, this is seen as a flight/flinch reaction. 
5. Hearing - loud booms have been recorded and they've reacted to it, but there's no proof they're not reacting to the touch of waves underwater instead of the sound. 
6. Magic - This creature has no magical capabilities to speak of, but seems like magic due to the sheer amount of information that they process and work on. 

Scientific Name

Stulluvese (aka Skullys)

Conservation Status

The species is not under protection since there is no need for the conservation status to be taken into effect.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Colorings and markings differ only through genetics, however, there is a suspicion that these "genetic" patterns are a result of temperature, environment, food eaten while eggs/seeds were created, and possibly other factors that have not been thought of. 
Patterns recognized and recorded at the "feral stripes" of the Potter's Cove colony, the fluorescent/biolumiscent pink seen with the River's Mouth colony, and the yellow-green gradients that are the mark of the Ocean's Ship Wrecker coral section.