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Reef Anguillans
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Threat level:
Medium - High
Reef anguillans are a successful and fairly common sight on some of the larger coral reefs in the oceans of Felarya. They thrive in the huge, twisting, maze-like structures formed by the massive coral formations.
They tend to stay close to the reefs, either inside the massive coral formations, or just above them. The only time they will usually venture away from the reefs is when they go to breed. Reef Anguillans are quick, agile predators in their habitat, but they are not really made for open water and usually fall prey to Leviathan Mermaids and other large undersea predators when they venture too far away from the reefs they call home.
Appearance
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Reef Anguillans are a sub-species of Anguillan, or eel-person. They have the torso of a human, and the long, sleek lower body of an eel. One of the most distinguishing features of this race is their coloration. The coloration of an individual Reef Anguillan can vary greatly from person to person, but the one common trait is that they are extremely brightly colored.
The human torso of a Reef Anguillan usually has stripe-like markings along their face, arms and sides. The color usually matches the base color of their tail, but that can vary from person to person.
Hair color comes on all shades. Blues and greens tend to be the most common, but blondes, purples and oranges are not unheard of, and there are darker colors from time to time as well. Eye coloration follows a similar pattern as well, bright colors for the most part, with darker ones from time to time.
The tails of reef anguillans are long and sleek, and usually covered in a thin mucous coating to add a little protection to the relatively fragile flesh of their tails, and to keep it moist if they ever find themselves out of water. There is usually a pair of fins hear the anguillan's hips, and a long fin running along the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the tail. Tails of Reef Anguillans are brightly colored, and covered in markings usually arranged in chaotic, often abstract patterns. This coloration is to help them to be less noticable around the brightly colored coral reefs, but tends to draw attention if they go into open water.
Another distinguishing feature are the spines, usually three to five, found on the forearms of all Reef Anguillans. These spines secrete a potent poison, and are more for personal defense than hunting. These spines are usually kept folded against the individual's forearms when not in use.
Hunting
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The diet of a Reef Anguillan is almost entirely composed of fish and crustaceans. Due to their habitat, massive coral reefs in fairly deep waters, interaction with humans ranges from rare, to non-existant. They do occaisonally hunt human-sized species of mermaids, if they come across them, but the abundance of fish and crustaceans that is found around the reefs ensures that they can usually find something to eat if they put their minds to it.
Breeding
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The only time any significant number of Reef Anguillans will leave their reefs is to breed. They take to the open water to search out a safer place to lay their eggs. There are many predators and opportunists, both large and small, around the reefs that could easily devour their eggs and their young. A child, even one who's parents watched out for it, would still likely not have a great chance of survival on the reef itself.
Reef Anguillans will usually travel to the mainland and lay their eggs in a shallow, calm part of a river before travelling back to the reef. Some of them do not survive the trip, and either fall prey to a large ocean-going predator, or some of the larger river predators. Their eggs will hatch a few weeks after being laid and the babies begin the arduous task of surviving in Felarya.
The young eel-people will live in the rivers for some time, eating, growing and learning to survive. After reaching a suitable size, roughly 40-60ft in length, the juvenile Reef Anguillans will make their way to the ocean and begin the journey back to their parents’ reef.They are able to locate where their “home” reef is thanks to a powerful set of instincts that they were born with.
Personality
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Reef Anguillans are fairly good people in general, although this does vary from person to person. They are a relatively sociable race, and keep in regular contact with their friends and neighbors around their reefs. They often seem to be a bit calmer and less voracious than some of the other mermaid-like races, but this is likely due to the fact that food is plentiful around the coral reefs, and finding a meal is never an overly pressing concern for them.
It should be noted, that on the few occaisons where humans and Reef Anguillans have met, that the Anguillans did not seem to have a natural association between the humans and food, due to their almost zero interaction with them. This should not always be assumed though, since there are cases of them eating humans. It just seems, in general, that they do not recognize humans as a food item, or at least a regular one.
Known representatives:
- Maria
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I figured I would finally put all this down on the forum. I have a character that is of this race, and I wanted to "claim" it before someone else jumped on the idea of oceanic eel-people.
Also, here is a drawing by Blazbaros of Maria, my eel-girl: Maria
Subject: Reef Anguillans 
Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:15 am
