I thought I'd try my own hand at a racial creaction. Lesse how I did.
Mersharks:Mersharks are Half human, half shark taurian merfolk that roam the wide seas and oceans of Felarya. They are usually only found within these deap sea environments, with only one sub species able to traverse fresh water river systems, the Leuchas (Based on the Bull Shark). Like the mermaids, Mersharks can breathe in the open air as they can in the water, making them semi amphibious. Unlike Mermaids however, they never leave the water, their body structure does not allow them that freedom.
Mersharks are incredibly dangerous, voracious, and utterly relentless. They posess no magic to speak of like their mermaid cousins, but they do however posess extreme physical conditioning, they are physically very strong, tough, fast and resistant to damage due to their tough muscular structure, while their speed and lithe movements and flexibility comes from their cartilage based skeletal structure.
They eat alot of different things, their main diet consists of mostly fish and other sea creatures (including merfolk), and are not very choosy when it comes to selecting prey. They are however, very opportunistic, and will single out weakened prey or easy prey. Humans are a very easy target most of the time, and a single Mershark can devour an entire cruise ship full of people happily, they can easily overtake most human seafaring vessels, and their incredible strength along with their fearlesness and relentless determination, can crack even a small warship apart in short order. With smaller prey such as humans, most Mersharks can and do swallow them whole, but when it comes to hunting larger prey, their powerful jaws, and razor sharp teeth usually create a grissly mess while they tear out large chunks of flesh and devour their meal in peices.
Apperance:The Mersharks are a Taurian species. From the tail fins to the pectoral and dorsal fins, Mersharks are entirely shark, but beyond that, point, they posess a human torso from the pelvis upward. Their skin changes bitween the two halves, becoming more nagalike in the human portion and the denticles soften and become smaller and less pronounced the further up the body you go. (denticles are the microscopic teeth that make up a Sharks skin, it’s esentially like 1-way sand paper if you rub shark skin towards the tail, it is very smooth, like glass, but if you rub it going towards the head, it can literally tear the skin off you!)
They have long fin blades on their forearms that help with swimming and swiftly disembowling larger prey. Their fingers end in wicked claws, used for grasping smaller prey, and tearing large chunks of flesh from larger prey.
Their gills are located in their necks, the water that flows through their mouths immegiately oxygenates the blood through their gills here without having to worry about the water filling their digestive tracts, or their airways and lungs for when they are above water.
Mersharks teeth are layers of razor sharp teeth used for ripping and tearing. Their mouths can open far wider than most creatures due to the flexible nature of their cartilage and free floating jawbones. Thus they can disconnect their jaws much the same way as nagas do their jaws can swing apart at nearly a 180 degree angle, allowing even greater biting potential- with their multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Mersharks posess possibly the single most sophisticated sensory system in all Felarya. Their senses are highly tuned, accurate, and work at extreme range. Their sense of smell alone can detect a single drop of blood in the sea from 50 miles away, and can detect a vast multitude of different substances. Their hearing can pick up water disturbances from even further away, splashing about on the waters surface can be picked up at a maximum range of over 200 miles. Their eyesight is also incredibly accurate, able to pick out details from 5 miles away, and can even see things above the water from beneath the surface with remarkable accuracy and detail. This vision is not lessened when in close proximity either, however when they focus on singular objects in the distance, it can only focus on that one object and nothing else. If their eyesight gets distracted by something else, they may lose visual sight of their target, this is rarely a problem though. They also posess a less common detection method, they are able to pick up electrical pulse signals that occur from other living beings when they move, these nerve impulses are picked up by electro receptors located around the mersharks face, they look like tiny freckles on most Mersharks. Ironically, these electro receptors work in tandem with their eyesight, When they use it, it lights up livingFelaryan predator sense, and this, in tandem with their other sensory organs makes it incredibly difficult to hide from a Mershark.
Behaviour:The behavioural patters of most Mersharks is varied and diverse, and not just bitween the sub-species. These range from the quiet, placateful and placid to the downright homicidal bloodthirsty, and everything inbitween. The most common traits an outsider will see, if they arn’t interested in you as food (very rare indeed), is a rather graceful yet cold indifference, an aloofness born of arrogance. Anything that does not immediately strike their interest, is almost completely ignored, Once you are not deemed a threat, or a meal, Mersharks tend to ignore others when randomly encountered, However, they will greet those they encounter with either nothing at all, a casual nod, or, if you happen to strike their senses enough, they may greet you with varying digrees of expression. Most are simply ignored if the Mershark isn’t hungry right then and there.
This isn’t to say that they are either ruthess killers, or cold unfeeling creatures. Far from it. A few common traits they do share is compeditiveness, impulsiveness, and indeed, a battlelust that is easily a match for their insatiable appetites. Any kind of physical test usually sparks their interest, and eagerness to demonstrate and prove their physical prowess, wether it be a test of strength, speed, endurance, or indeed any compeditive endeavour, is a surefire way to get their attention. This, combined with their desire to fight, (and subsequently to feed on a battles spoils), is one of the few common things they all share, even the more placid sub-species of Mersharks.
Their most well documented common trait Mersharks hold, however, is their legendary blood frenzy. If the smell of blood and food is in their nostrils, it is like a madness drug is in their brains. They will bite, scratch, tear and generally try to kill anything that gets bitween them and their food. This hyper agressive state will override even the normally most placid of Mersharks. Do not be around them while there is a chance of this event occuring, especially if you are the one considered to be the food... They are utterly relentless and remorsiless in this state.
Once you break the barrier and can befrend one of these beings, you’ll find that Mersharks are fiercely loyal, staunch in their beleifs, ranbunctous, and generally loud and proud people. Somewhat pushy and prideful, and (contrary to popular beleif) they are quite clever and intelligent, although thier arrogance sometimes prevents their wisdom from seeing the light, they do, at times, produce some very good pearls of wisdom for those they have befrended, especially with those who are not aquatic by nature. Indeed, very few beings short of the Leviathan Mermaids actually see as much of the far reaches of the open oceans as Mersharks actually do. Their migration patterns take them all over the world.
For the larger species, there is very little that they actually have to fear (The Carchari for instance, fears nothing and nobody, even the greatest of Leviathan Mermaids are nothing to be fearful of, their strength for their size is truly incredible) And even juveniles are strong enough to fend for themselves against most threats, However, this hubris arrogance can actually lead these inexperienced ones to bite off more than they can chew, and this pride has led many to a swift end.
Hunting Habbits:Neither subtle, nor particularly nice, but incredibly effective. Mersharks utilise a wide variety of hunting techniques. Mostly it is the direct approach. For solitary hunters, such as the larger predatory Mersharks like the Carchari (The single largest and indeed the mightiest predatory Mershark subspecies (named after the Great White Shark)), the Cuivernae (One of the most violent of the larger predatory mersharks, and in the running as 2nd largets and strongest (named after the Tiger Shark)),
Their usual method of hunting is either fear and intimidation, followed by a debilitating bite, and then pick off the meat as they prey dies. This is how the Mersharks attack weaker prey, such as injured Merfolk. When hunting against stronger foes, these sharks approach with stealth, hihding in the darkness, Then, a rapid high speed attack from below, using their incredible strength and speed to power their way into an ill prepared foe with their claws and teech for a usually fatal blow that can catapault both the prey and the Mershark a good 3 times their height out of the water.
Feeding on humans is a far less physically challenging ordeal. From picking loan humans swimming on the surface, to sinking an entire ship and consuming it’s unfortunate crew. When it comes to humans and other human sized creatures, the larger Mersharks usually forgo their otherwise gory method of eating, and instead do swallow them whole and alive. It is a rare treat for these Merfolk to enjoy a living meal squirming in their bellies, and they relish it.
Other, smaller sub-species of mersharks are often pack hunters, such as the Glauci (based on the Blue Shark). These mersharks rely on multi-angled attack patterns, and co-ordinate a well planned strategy. Though they lack the raw power and size of their larger bretheren, these Mersharks are nontheless very successful, and this leads to a rather unplesant pack mentality in most cases...
Society:Mersharks have a varied social structure, dependant on sub-species. Larger species are usually solitary for most of their lives, for only once a year, these great hunters congregate together to breed. During this time, the social structure is almost invariably matriarchal, The females are generally larger and more robust than the males, However, the males are particularly more savage, and agressive during this time, especially towards other males.
In the case of the smaller pack-minded Mersharks, although it retains the matriarcal prospect of their larger cousins, it is a more formal affair, and relationships arn’t fleeting in these cases. A pack generally has only has 1 to 3 bull males per a pack of 20 to 30 Mersharks. However, as with the larger Mersharks, when they all come into season, even these packs tend to congregate into a single zone. This creates a phenomenon known as a Swarm. As many as 200, or even more of these pack Mersharks from several packs tend to frolic in the same area for weeks, when these swarms begin, they can devastate a coastal region for many weeks, until the swarm disperses... Very little food remains in an area recently used as a swarming zone.
Reproduction/Breeding Habbits:As mentioned before, Mersharks come into breeding season once a year. They mate sexually, and give birth to live young, bitween 3 to 12 offspring are bred per season. Mating, for Mersharks, wa once as violent an affair as any other action they undertake, and is as offten the contriuting factor for scarring as any actual fight they have been involved in. The reason for this are the bull males, they used to usually actually bite and claw into the fins of the females to hold onto while they do their buisness. This is why the females are larger, and generally more robust than the males, they simply needed to be in order to shrug off the physical assault during the actual mating. Males however, don’t fare so well when the time for retaliation arrives, some even sporting lost limbs, and in rarer occasions, have paid the ultimate penalty. While present day Mersharks have evolved mentally and socially to solve this homicidal problem, it has only been within the last few dozen or so generations, and the physical aspect has not yet evolved to match this. Nevertheless, it is still quite an energetic and physically trying exersize.
Gestation for the unborn pups takes over 12 months before they are ready to be born. The mother will care for her offspring for their first 3 to 6 months of their lives, after this, the pups, in the case of the larger specimens, will be left to fend for themselves. In the case of packs, they are cared for by the packs females until physical maturity.
I'm probably not as good at this as I had hoped, but any feedback would be appreciated
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In the end, there can be only one....
Subject: Mersharks 
Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:54 am
The electro sensory system is actually used by sensory organs called the Ampullae of Lorenzini, the ones you described. Sharks are amazing creatures, one of the deadliest predators of the world: and the Mako, Megalodon and Great Whites (both types of Mako Shark) have the most advanced bite that evolution had to offer.
