Femobulas and Remoragals

Size: 120' wide, 50' tall, 90' long excluding long, whip-like tail.
Habitat: Felarya's oceans and Topazial Sea

Femubulas are a race of giant taurian mobula rays. They possess two mouths: one on their mobula portion, which they filter feed with, and the other is on their human torso, which extends from above the lower mouth. They can survive for long periods by filter-feeding alone, but there comes a time when they must hunt to stay healthy. Their preys typically include large fish and ichthys. They have also been known to prey upon humans and seagull harpies.

Their most remarkable trait is that they can hug their human portion to their mobula one to reduce drag, speed up and then rocket out of the water. This is used for escaping predators, hunting airborne preys and plays a role in their mating rituals. Their fleshy human skin gives way to rough, blue mobula skin at the base- since their base is made of cartilage, their upper torsos are surprisingly flexible. Their jaw muscles are also slightly stretchy, allowing them to eat large prey so that they can last longer on their plankton diet. Some femobulas, however, prefer to actively hunt small prey.
Their hair is typically shoulder-length with blue or green shades. They have five pairs of gill slits on the manta portion, as well as three on the human portion- three gills on each cheek. They have long, whip-like tails which are used to help steer in the water and especially during gliding. A femobula will not be able to glide for awhile after eating as digestion is just as disabling as it is for other predators; they'll sink to the bottom to take a nap.

They inhabit Felarya's oceans and are mostly prevalent around the Topazial Sea- yet they are still fairly rare and are mostly seen during their mating season, when hundreds will gather in one place, leaping out of the water to impress a potential mate with the highest leap.
Have been known to glide extraordinary distances; possibly use magic to help gain lift. Have not been known to be proficient spellcasters, however.

They are extremely curious, and are known to investigate boats by swimming up to the ship with only their human portion showing, and using their mobula portion to stay afloat. They are quite intelligent and great conversationalists. One must be wary, however, because some are more voracious than others.

They are susceptible to more maneuverable sea creatures who may take bites out of their wide, vulnerable bodies. If they perceive something as a danger, they will dart as quickly as they can away from the threat and leap out of the water at full speed in an effort to escape. They will not typically come near ships with engines running.
Infant femobulas are called pups, the same as infant sharks, skates and rays.

One femobula will hatch from a “mermaid’s purse”, or an egg sack. Most will let this go to hatch on its own in the wild, but some have strong parental instincts that drive them to raise the young. These egg sacks will sometimes wash up in storms- if a human hatches them, you can help raise them into gentle giants. When they are born, they are roughly six feet wide, five feet long (excluding their tail), and two and a half feet tall. They have the air of playful children. They are naturally curious- sometimes too much for their own good. They will typically filter-feed until they are big and fast enough to catch larger prey. Some, however, never learn to hunt or simply don’t like to. These ones usually live in plankton-rich waters and are some of the safest members of the giant races to be around. Still others develop a taste for large prey and hardly ever rely on their natural filter-feeding abilities. It’s really up to the individual. Although it may seem difficult to attach a species-wide stigma due to this, their relative rarity makes each encounter a potential face for their species as a whole. While some residents of the Topazial Sea see them as peaceful plankton-eaters, others see them as terrible sea creatures with a penchant for swallowing people whole…

They have a huge blind spot underneath their mobula body; however, they can feel disturbances in water pressure so they can sense an incoming attacker. Unlike sharkmaids, femobulas aren’t agile and take wide, sweeping turns. They can, however, do a barrel-roll or a somersault in the water to throw an attacker off-guard. Some have been known to wield artifacts they recovered from shipwrecks.

Are more closely related to sharkmaids than mermaids.

Some have more shark-ish features on their human portion, such as rough shark skin that may be grey to dark blue. Short fins which extend from the sides of their forearms may also be present. Those with more shark features are not necessarily any more voracious than the average femobula; but these are more likely to be shunned by merfolk and more readily tolerated by sharkmaids. (At least, until they’re hungry.)

Their human body actually contains a lot of cartilage and thus is very flexible; they can lean any direction at a 90 degree angle; some have been seen slowly swimming while they lie back on their mobula portion.

However flexible, they possess a strong muscular structure which allows them to stay upright while they swim at fairly high speeds underwater, although they will lean forward to lower drag if they have to go faster.
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Remoragal

Based off of the remora:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remora
EDIT: It appears that Zoekin came up with a remoramaid, which is pretty much exactly what these 'gals are. My bad. Hope that their symbiotic bond with femobulas helps differentiate them.

Length: 5'
Danger level: Very low

Can be seen tagging along with femobulas. Seem to be an evolutionary branch of mermaids, are roughly five feet long and have a sucker-like organ that they use to attach to the femobula's underside. They have a symbiotic relationship- the remoragal will clean parasites and such off of the femobula, sometimes even swimming into her open mouth to scavenge for food! Although femobulas are conversational, remoragals are tragically mute. They cannot verbally communicate with their host, although they may share a deep bond.

May take an active role in helping the femobula feed: in rare circumstances, remoragals, who look much like mermaids besides the sucker disc located on their front, might lure a mermaid into the clutches of the femobula. A healthy host is a healthy home, after all!

May attempt to take mermaids as hosts, but their reputation as mermaid-traitors often prevents this.

Remoragals are completely capable of swimming on their own, but they have no natural weapons. They cannot call for help if they are in trouble. They might latch onto boats for safety, much to the surprise of the crew if they discover her.

Can fertilize eggs on their own; are often under the protection of the mother and her host. Leave to find their own hosts when they are about 3' long. There's a rumor that they can breed successfully with other mermaid species, but there haven't been any documented cross-breeds.