Crawdalies (crayfish people)

Species: Crawdalies

Size: 2-9 Feet tall / long (varies on age, fully mature Crawdalies are around nine)

Habitat: riverbed of the Jewel river, just north of Lake of Illusions.

Appearance/physiology: Crawdalies are a race of omniverous beings that are half Human, half Crayfish or Crawdid/dad. While their lower body is that of a crayfish/etc., from the cray's 'head' area up is that of a person, starting at their waist and heading up. However, unlike most human-cross species, some features of the animalistic half carry on to the human side. The exoskeleton of the crayfish continues up the back of the human, ending just below the shoulderblades. They also have exoskeletal 'armor' over their upper arms, and their index fingers and thumbs are claw-like in appearance, while the rest appear human.

The vagina is in the regular place on the human portion of the body, and the skin slowly fades into the many fuzzy swiming 'legs' of the crayfish, with the long, boney legs sticking out from the side. The exoskeleton, and upper-body plates are usually a dark grey or black, but have been known to be blue, silver, or even red, with black spots. The skin is usually tanned, despite the fact that they live along the riverbed and only come up to scavenge for food in the shallows. Many females attempt to grow out their hair, but end up cutting off random bits while running their sissor-like fingers through it. There is no definate color for their hair, but it is rare to find bright colors.

Crawdalies have attractive faces, round eyes that are usually a sky or ice blue in color, or grey or black in the irises. Their necks lack gills, as most aquatic species have, as the water is filtered of oxygen and food, then released through a gap between two of the plates near the waist. They are equipped with a set of lungs for above-water breathing, but they must still be kept moisturised or it becomes uncomfortable. Inside the throat there are three valves, where a human only has two. One leads to the stomach, another to the lungs, and the final to the gills. When submerged, the valve to the lungs closes, and the one to the gills opens, allowing under-water breathing, but while above land the valve to the gills seals, and the one to the lungs opens. When above water, a 'seal' is placed on the plates over the gills, keeping water in them as to keep them hydrated for the most part Despite being omnivorous, they actually lack any specific type of 'teeth'. every tooth in their mouth is seemingly a cross between a molar and an insisor. (square-ish, and conical, but cut off near the tip to form a flat-top)

Male crawdalies are only slightly different from females. While females's hands are petit and precice, a male's left hand will always be much larger, atleast twice the size of the right, and the index finger and thumb will be slightly longer compared to the hand. A rather dangerous weapon when used right, it's more for mating than for combat. They also lack the vagina(obviously) but instaid have a pair of plates over the entrance to the sheath of the penis, which, when aroused, appears to be between seven and twelve inches, this is because a female's womb is not angled like a humans, but straight back from the vaginal entrance about ten or so inches and lies just after the 'divider' of the human and crawfish bodies, just after the gills, and below/infront of the intestinal tract.(in males this would be the testes) Females also have breasts(duh), which vary in size but are often rather buxom. (about the size of a large C cup to a small D cup by our standards)

Behavior/Social society: Crawdalies are a friendly race, although they can be hesitant/fearful while on their own. They are rather talkative while in the presence of others, and even humans. Helpful when they can be, crawdalies are still considered to be dangerous, be it accidentally. Despite their size, they are not considered prey for Merfolk, and actually have a slight symbyotic relationship. Merfolk will often protect them from danger, and they will help groom the mer-person/people and clean up any scraps(if any) that stick around them. (another reason is that apparently, Crawdalies taste nasty)

Crawdalies are, unlike their animal halves, a race of communities. However, a "Crest" of crawdalies usually only consists of fifteen to thirty members. This dose not mean that they aren't welcoming, and will often allow stray young to join their 'family', humans have even been recoreded joining one crest.. This is because their charming faces often draw in men(and women) of different species, such as humans. During the spawning seaons in the spring they are actually known to have a lustfull streak, and will attempt to reproduce with anyone willing, be it crawdalie or human, male or female.

Reproduction/upbringing: Unlike crawfish, crawdalies reproduce like regular humans. The male injects the female with sperm, and fertlises the eggs within her. This is where it takes a turn from the human side. Unlike the human womb, which angles up from the inside of the vagina, the sperm is sent straight back into the crawdid half of the body, where it joins with the eggs and redies them. When enough eggs have been fertlised, the female digs a burrow in the riverbed and lines it with reeds, bolth for cussioning, and for support. She then deposits the eggs through a slit that opens near the base of her tail. A fully mature female crawdalie will only lay between two and five soft, rubbery eggs at a time, which are a foggy pink in color and about one foot in diameter, and she will watch over the eggs untill they hatch into healthy young that are between 1 and 1 1/2 feet long.

The children will grow to average size in the time of two or three weeks, one month at most. While a mother only has two breasts to feed them from, they start feeding the children bits of seaweed and reeds from the surrounding area between breastfeedings, as to ween them earlier, as the mother will stop breast feeding them once they have reached around 2 1/2 to 3 feet. Also, multiple females will care for one birthing of young, as apparently all are capable of lactation, only underwater however. Once they have been weened, a child will be introduced into eating the remains of fish and catching live fish. This is done to avoid the young attempting to eat their mother's breasts whlie feeding, as their teeth begin to grow in after about one week.

Crawdalies, as stated before, have a lustful streak, as with any other sub-human creature. This means that, given the opportunity, they will either attempt to, or actually have sex with a human or other sub-human species. It is unsure if a cross between the two is possible, due to the crawdalies being hafl human, mainly due to the physical differences between humans and crawdalies. (a human female's vagina being too small and the womb at the wrong angle, and a human male's penis being bolth the wrong size and incapable of producing enough sperm to reach the womb of the female crawdalie.)