Slow-Whale

Slow-whales are a species of slow-moving cetacean from the Frozen Mountain Range and Frozen Volcanoes of Ocearia. They are a massive species, considered a megafauna, and are preyed on by very few animals, including marvenkens.

Anatomy

Slow-whales have a long, grey, barrel shaped body. It is much rounder than other cetaceans on the planet, and are slower because of it. They have small heads, with square shaped mouths. These mouths have the thickest skin on their entire body, which helps them consume more plants that would otherwise be able to inject venom into the animal. They have long, thin whiskers around their lips which help detect objects they float into when sleeping.

Slow-Whale by Mochi

The small fins on the sides of their tubby bodies guide them through the cold waters, ideal when they have no need to swim at high speeds. Their large paddle tails are the only parts of their body that move at considerable speed. Beating at about 20 flaps per minute, their tails are what push them forwards.

Reproduction & Growth

To put it bluntly, slow-whales are terrible parents. After mating, which takes several hours due to both partner's desire to not move, the female will be impregnated for 2 years. Slow-whales give birth tail-first, as they are air-breathing, and if they were to give birth head-first then the baby would drown.

The baby slow-whales have the innate instinct to swim to the surface, where they will spend the first 5 weeks of their lives enduring harsh rain and snowfall, all while they munch on surface-growing algae and plants. During this time, parents completely abandon their children and go on to swim slowly around the frozen underwater mountains, munching on toxic plants that nothing else can eat.

Diet

Slow-whales are a herbivorous species, grazing on the many plants that float about in the frozen mountains and volcanoes. They commonly feed on spikekelp, a type of poisonous protist that have sharp spines. These spines cannot puncture the thick skin of a slow-whale's mouth, and their incredibly strong saliva breaks them down practically instantly, into a silky green paste.

Predation

As a herbivorous species that is predominantly slow and harmless, slow-whales are hunted by a few predator species. Despite their enormous size that deters most predators, some are willing to take them down. One species is the marvenken; a giant gastropod species that have large territories. If slow-whales get relatively close to marvenken nests, they will only last a few minutes before the slimy creatures swim up to the whales and latch onto its sides, draining the life out of it.

Lifespan

100 years

Average Weight

30,000 – 35,000 kg

Average Length

20 - 22 metres

Geographic Distribution

• Frozen Volcanoes
• Ocearia

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