#forgot to label their names. sharky ones are iarans. ray-finned are nix

[adriartts]

Messy merfolk thoughts for today - subspecies and morphology

#original #merfolk #mermaids #forgot to label their names. sharky ones are iarans. ray-finned are nix #iarans are predators and nix are omnivores. both of them preyed on humanoids in evolutionary history but that hasn't been true for a while #the nixie is also probably a male. they have more elaborate colors and fins than the females. the iaran. idk. they don't differ as much #females are a bit bigger but other than that there isn't much that changes #iarans remained predators on humanoids more recently evolution-wise so they look more mimicryish. #the fins mimicking ears at a glance and the general color palette (they're not all greyscale they vary from silvery to brown to black) #but nix branched out earlier and so havent retained as many of the mimicry characteristics. iarans are more basal. i guess you could say #idk. they are cute. finally having mermaid thoughts get BACK in here im thinking about merfolk