Creature:Kaiyo

The Kaiyo are a race of cephalopods from the Shellis moon of Kaiyo Kallin. They are known to the rest of the galaxy as the chief race of the Kaiyo Kallin Trade Union and one of the races in the.

Physiology and Anatomy
Kaiyo normally reach heights of 3.5 meters for males and 2.8 meters for females assuming that there is no damage to their shells. They will weigh and average of 450kg for males and 400kg for females. Kaiyo will live for a roughly 600 years and reach full maturity at the age of of 50 or 60 depending on variety.

Most of their bodies are covered by a hard shell made of mucus and various layers of calcium carbonate, copper acids, and conchiolin. Over the coarse of their life, they will seal off the previous chamber and build a larger one at the opening to the shell. An adult kaiyo will have an upward coil shape or a nautilus like shape. The shell's many empty chambers also have glands near the youngest chamber for buoyancy. The circulatory and nervous systems will still exist through gland chamber till the next one is built. A kaiyo can easily live without the rest.

Kaiyo have closed circulatory system with 3 hearts. 1 central heart pumps blood through the body while 2 branchial hearts pump blood to their gills. Kaiyo blood is blue-green when oxygenated due the having copper hemocyanin and must flow faster due to it's low content in oxygen. When deoxygenated or in the color changing cells of the kaiyo's skin, it is colorless.

During the course of their evolution, the kaiyo would spend weeks at a time waiting for prey to swim by before paralyzing it with its toxic mucus. Most kaiyo will eat once anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. After 3 months, they will starve to death. The more active kaiyo can only go one month without food. Their diet includes large fish and crustaceans as well as some sea grasses and ice lichens. Hatchlings spend early years eating smaller fish and shrimp, then move on to large prey.

At hatching they have fully developed eyes with 2 spots of sensory cells at each side of their eyes for looking both forward and backward at the same time. The optic nerve is positioned behind the retina giving them no blind spot. They can see the inclination of polarized light and infrared light. Their eye colors include cyan, dark blue, violet, and black. A kaiyo's statocyst acts as a balance, acceleration, and sound sensory organ. It allows them to hear sounds from 10Hz to 18kHz. They may experience mild pain or discomfort after hearing sounds over 75db and may become have hearing damage or loss after sounds over 120db.

A kaiyo's skin has a color changing property due several pigmented skin layers and a reflective upper surface. Each color changing cell can be shrunk or grown at will allowing them to show or hide lower layers and create color patterns. They may also change how light reflects of of their skin and change the polarization of the light. They use this ability for communication in their native language and camouflage.

Kaiyo have ink sacs that they may use to create ink from mucus, melanin, and body waste. It is blue-black in color and may be released at will. Their saliva and ink has various neurotoxins that can temporarily stun victims for roughly 30-60 minutes depending on the dose. Higher doses may cause severe damage or death in younger creatures. Eating the lower layers of kaiyo shells will produce the same effects.