Creature:King of Swimmers

The King of Swimmers is the largest recorded organism ever to swim Vuunega's open oceans.

Statistics
Nicknames: KoS, Kos, Vuunegan Whale, Glutton, Eradicator, Wipeout Homeplanet: Vuunega Species Type: Warm-blooded Aquatic Omnicetid Lifestyle: Social Predator Hunt/Forage Success Rate: 100% Hunt (80% success rate) Armor: When young, King of Swimmers are covered in relatively heavy bony scutes that help protect them from potential predators. While this is highly effective, it weighs down the calf, forcing it to tire out quickly when swimming. Because of this, parents will take turns allowing their young to rest on their own backs. Armor eventually is shed off, and will become food to colonies of scavengers in deeper waters. Defenses: The King of Swimmers can typically finish off any opponent by quickly eating them, although very few creatures can give them a run for their money, and on rare occasions, they will prefer to escape instead. This is aided by massive lungs, which allow them to hold their breaths for upwards of 3 hours at the surface. They can dive indefinitely downwards, although eventually their air intake will run low and they must return to the surface or risk drowning. KoS also hunt in very small pods of around 5 full grown members. Weapons: The only weapon a KoS needs to defeat any foes is its mouth. This massive opening is lined with omnibaleen, which is retractable, allowing these omniceti to "switch" between being filterfeeders or toothed predators. While much prey is swallowed whole to keep from wasting energy, larger, potentially harmful prey (such as the Grappra) are subdued with the teeth first before swallowing. When a King of Swimmers opens is gargantuan mouth, it creates such a huge vacuum that nearly nothing can hope to escape it. Tools: King of Swimmers have sacrificed their former paws for fins, and can no longer manipulate objects, except for with their mouth - and anything that enters their mouth will never leave, so this can hardly be considered manipulation. Method of Eating: Open mouth to create a vortex of water that rushes in to fill the new gap, trapping any and all organisms in this powerful whirlpool. Swallow prey whole (bite into submission if need be). Food passes into massive esophagus until it reaches equally massive stomach, where digestion begins. Stomach breaks down food into a slurry and allows it to pass through "vent gut", an organ filled with beneficial bacteria that kill most bacteria and viruses that can become deadly once in the KoS bloodstream. Vent gut passes remains of food into the whirling intestines, which extracts nutrients from the food and absorbs it into the bloodstream. Wasted remnants are excreted out of the cloaca on the opposite end of the digestive tract, although very little is left undigested (even rocks can be digested and used to obtain energy). Reproductive Rate: Sexual maturity is reached after 30 years. Reproduce only during the warmer summer months, when the waters are less of a shock to birthed young. Gestation: 3 years then gives birth -- calves may take an hour or two to birth successfully, and immediately must go up for air at the water's surface. Number of Offspring: 1 calf per litter - King of Swimmers are physically incapable of birthing more than one, and on the off chance that a zygote splits into twins, the KoS mother will very likely die. Offspring Survival Rate (before age of maturity): 76% -- Due to very low birth rates, KoS must take very good care of their young in order to keep from going extinct. When young exist, pods instinctively become extremely aggressive and hostile, and will kill (and eat) anything that shows any sign of interest in them. Very few natural predators exist for the KoS at any stage of their existence, however. Singular/Plural: King of Swimmers/King of Swimmers