Lionfish Mermaids

Lionfish mermaids are one of the few mermaid species that are venomous, and are also some of the most colorful. They are usually seen around coral reefs. They tend to be 10-80' in length. The 10-40' varieties tend to eat only fish, and since they are smaller, their toxins have to be more potent, to the point of causing the toungue and gums to swell for up to five days. The 50'-80' varieties are much more lax, and feed upon shipwreck survivors, divers, and fish.

The 10-40' doesn't quite support the diet of humans (at least unless you have the Mermaids break the humans apart first: A 40' being eating a 5'10" male whole would be akin to a 5'10" being eating a 10" SlimJim whole. As the Mermaid shrinks smaller, the comparison gets more crazy: Some sort of jaw modifications would be required, and for a Lionfish such a change doesn't seem quite right.

Furthermore, I imagine the venomous would be akin to the base creature (dangerous barbs) and not like a poisonous bite or anything of the sort? Unless they poison their food then tear it apart, but even that doesn't quite need any extra feature beyond said barbs. Such a defensive poison would need to be very potent as well, if to be used repelling other Giant Predators of the ocean: A poison that would "only" kill humans in short order might as well be functionless in terms of survival, as the gigantic Mermaids eat them up without much worry. Said poison would in the least need to be able to disable a Giant Predator for some time if they were hit with it, enough to discourage eating said Lionfish Mermaid unless they're desperate.

Malahite wrote:

The 10-40' doesn't quite support the diet of humans (at least unless you have the Mermaids break the humans apart first: A 40' being eating a 5'10" male whole would be akin to a 5'10" being eating a 10" SlimJim whole. As the Mermaid shrinks smaller, the comparison gets more crazy: Some sort of jaw modifications would be required, and for a Lionfish such a change doesn't seem quite right.

Furthermore, I imagine the venomous would be akin to the base creature (dangerous barbs) and not like a poisonous bite or anything of the sort? Unless they poison their food then tear it apart, but even that doesn't quite need any extra feature beyond said barbs. Such a defensive poison would need to be very potent as well, if to be used repelling other Giant Predators of the ocean: A poison that would "only" kill humans in short order might as well be functionless in terms of survival, as the gigantic Mermaids eat them up without much worry. Said poison would in the least need to be able to disable a Giant Predator for some time if they were hit with it, enough to discourage eating said Lionfish Mermaid unless they're desperate.

That's what I was hinting at. Did I say anything about a poisonous bite?