Creature:Squiidaunt

Information
Sometimes called the "ants of the sea", Squiidaunts are, in actuality, cephalopods who have grown into tremendously social creatures that work in a hive society. A hive is ruled by a single female, called the queen, who gives birth to all her subjects and issues orders to them using her chromatic skin. The queen also excretes a transparent chemical, derived from ink, that stunts the other females' from maturing sexually, making her the only one capable of producing ilk. Males however, are uneffected by this chemical in this way, but are instead intoxicated by it, making them seek out the queen to breed with her.

Squiidaunts usually create their nests out of a hive-like coral called Catacoral, which resides in the tropical and subtropical reefs of their homeworld. Catacoral grows throughout its life, and therefore ancient catacoral is large enough to support even a large colony of Squiidaunts. Since Squiidaunts are incapable of carving away at their coral hive homes, they do not hurt the Catacoral; in fact, they more often protect it from harm from somewhat larger predators, since the Squiidaunts will defend their hive from attackers, whether said attackers are after the cephalopods or their hive itself.

Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota (Complex Organisms) Kingdom: Animalia (Animals) Subkingdom: Eumetazoa (Tissue into Germ Layers)

Statistics
Species Type: Cold-blooded Aquatic Cephalopod Lifestyle: Hiveminded Predator Hunt/Forage Success Rate: 80% Hunt (64% success rate), 20% Scavenge (88% success rate) Armor: Squiidaunts are covered in many small, armor plates which help protect them from foes. Defenses: Squiidaunts' main defense is to retreat back into their hive, which is made out of the seriously tough-skinned Catacoral. Weapons: The beak of the Squiidaunts have grown larger somewhat, allowing them to more easily bite onto prey. Tools: The two feeder tentacles are occasionally used to manipulate objects. Method of Eating: Undescribed Reproductive Rate: In males, sexual maturity is reached in 3 months. In females, sexual maturity is reached after 1 week, assuming the Squiidaunt is an adult and the chemical excreted by the Queen has dissipated (which happens when she dies). Gestation: 5 days before eggs hatch. Offspring Incubation: 3 days before laying eggs. Number of Offspring: 100 per litter. Offspring Survival Rate (before age of maturity): 98% -- young Squiidaunts are kept deep within the hive until they have reached adulthood; however, only the queen and the males ever reach sexual maturity. When a queen dies, the chemicals she releases quickly dissipate, and once this happens, another female will quickly mature, and become the new queen, who will then stunt the maturity of the others. In the case of two females reaching queen status at the same time, they will battle. The winner will stay in place, while the loser will take a small handful of workers and males to find a new place to build a hive. Singular/Plural/Possessive: Squiidaunt/Squiidaunts/Squiidauntan