Squid

Known for: capturing prey with its tentacles and killing it instantly with a harpoon.
Branches: Praeostia Spinaformae Bicephalia Tentaculostia Supraspectos Quadrimotus Insidiator
Learn about what these branches mean in the taxonomy page.

Squid are a terrestrial, predatory species found in every continent within the Day Hemisphere. They belong to the Bicephalia branch, which means they have two heads (one for feeding and another one for sensing), and they are named after their distinctive feeding head equipped with tentacles. Squids are lone, ambush predators with exceptional long-range vision. They are expected to be the most significant risk for Noah-1 settlers due to a high likelihood of encounters, aggressive predatory instincts, and deadly surprise attacks. Extreme caution is advised.

Feeding head

Squid use tentacles in their feeding head to capture prey, and their harpoon to perforate and kill. Once the victim is immobilized by the Squid’s tentacles, muscles surrounding the harpoon propel it forward with explosive force, causing its tip to rip through flesh and bone. This results in massive damage and, usually, instant death. Once the harpoon is in, its barbs ensure that prey is struck and can’t escape in the unlikely event that it is still alive. Squid harpoons are the hardest known structure in all of Proxima b’s life forms. They are composed of bone reinforced with a tungsten frame, which makes them very difficult to break and capable of perforating bone and Endocrustae’s skeleton plates.

This combination of tentacles and harpoon to capture and kill prey is an early predatory adaptation that appeared in Squid’s ocean-based ancestors. Modern Squid-Sharks, which currently dominate the ocean’s food chain, share the same common ancestor and also have tentacles and a harpoon.

Sensing head

The sensing head is capable of seeing, smelling and hearing. Of these senses, vision is by far the most developed. Squid have 3 eyes, highly optimized to see in the daytime since they live in permanent daylight as a result of Proxima b’s tidal locking. Squid eyes are covered with structures thought to be photoreceptors similar to Earth life’s retina cones. More analysis is needed to establish how these structures work. However, if they do perform the same function as retina cones, squid’s eyesight will be roughly 50 times more capable than humans at detecting different shades of color. Experiments have shown the following:

• Sensitive to color detection within the visible and ultraviolet spectrums.

• No ability to see infrared light.

• Can detect prey up to 3 miles away, enabled by the capability of zooming using the middle eye.

• Ability to selectively switch off specific color ranges, which makes squids remarkable at detecting hidden and camouflaged prey.

Olfaction is performed via the tongue, a specialized organ located inside an orifice at the base of the sensing head. Squid regularly push their tongue out to smell their environment. Unlike their vision, Squid’s sense of smell seems to be less developed in that they cannot differentiate between many different odors. However, the tongue is very sensitive, being able to detect traces coming from any direction. Squid use this ability to identify the general direction where prey may be found, followed by using their vision to pinpoint their location accurately.

Squid’s equivalent of hearing is a sense of vibrations captured via hairs spread around their body. Unlike actual hearing, Squid can’t differentiate between tones, but they can detect minute vibrations and pinpoint their source location reasonably accurately. Like with olfaction, Squid use their vibration sensing to identify prey (or predators) in their vicinity but then resort to their vision for more accurate perception.

Behavior

Squid are lone, ambush hunters. They seek and hunt prey by seeing it at a distance, approaching stealthily and rapidly striking. They avoid being detected by camouflaging (their skin tone is similar to the Day Hemisphere’s rocky surroundings) and hiding, only needing to expose their relatively small sensing head to see their prey. Tentacles are used to capture prey, bring it within reach of the feeding head, then killing it with its harpoon. The entire process is very fast, usually 1 to 2 seconds even with struggling prey, since Squid’s strong tentacles offer little chance of moving or escaping.

Reproduction

Being lone creatures, Squid get together only for procreation. They exhibit low sexual dimorphism, which means that males and females are very similar to each other. The only difference between genders is internal. Females have an organ to produce eggs, while males have an organ to fertilize eggs. Although serving very different purposes, both organs are called the sac, have the same shape and are located in the same place in Squid bodies (behind their cloacas).

Periodically (roughly every 11 Earth-months), males produce eggs inside their sac (see definitions of male and female for Proxima b animals here). Once they have eggs ready to fertilize, males release a scent which is easily recognized by females. When a female approaches, driven by the male’s scent, both individuals mate, which consists of exchanging eggs from the male’s sac to the female’s sac. At this stage, eggs are covered in a soft membrane. The female sac is filled with sulfuric acid containing fertilizing cells, which are absorbed by the egg’s membrane, resulting in fertilization. One an egg is fertilized, it hardens it’s membrane, transforming it into a shell in a process that lasts 20 to 22 Earth-hours.

In the meantime, the male has been looking for a nesting place, usually a cave or a concealed area within vegetation. Once a nesting place is found, the female lays their eggs, and both parents begin taking turns to look after the nest and hunt for food, ensuring the nest is never left without supervision. Nests are often spotted and attacked by Scorpions, and Squid will fight to the death to protect it. This process continues after eggs hatch, and Squid cubs are born, and until they are old enough to leave the nest. When the hunting partner finds prey, it returns to the nest with a fresh kill and shares it with the other partner and their cubs. As cubs grow, their hunting instinct develops further and further. Eventually, vibrations or smell emitted by prey causes them to leave their nest to hunt for themselves, never to return. Once the last cub leaves, its parents also part ways to continue their solitary lives.

Occasionally, during mating season, two females are attracted by the same male. Instead of fighting for dominance (commonly found in other Proxima b species and Earth animals), both female Squid mate with the male and the trio goes on to raise their combined cubs.