Creature Feature: Merfolk, Loretober Day Twenty-Four!

Merfolk are one of the few highly intelligent societies in Kree and Clara's world and also one of the most elusive. More like marine mammals than fish, they have smooth skin, are warm-blooded, have mammary glands, and have their children through live birth.

Although merfolk spend most of their time within the ocean, they exclusively breathe air. They are able to survive underwater for long periods of time due to their body's ability to reserve oxygen/ hold their breath, their underwater homes are engineered to contain replenishable air pockets, and they typically stay near the surface of the ocean when hunting together.

Merfolk live in pods made up of close relatives and usually do not form longterm romantic bonds. Rather, when the urge is called upon them, males will search for a suitable mate from another pod and (if the female + her pod approves of them) they will spend one night together and the male will either return to his family, or continue searching for more females. When the merbaby is born, it will be taken care of by the mother's entire pod alongside the child's cousins. Once a merbaby is weaned off it's mother's milk, the elderly and injured become it's main caretakers since the mother will return to the hunting party and be away for most of the day/for a few days to help provide for everyone.

To humans, merfolk are most known for their underwater songs that can carry for long distances. They sing mostly when hunting for food, disorienting their prey with sound as they surround them, but they will also sing to communicate to other distant pods. Most fishermen would say that it's bad luck to hear the merfolk singing while out at sea. Although their songs mean the area is good for fishing, doing so while they are still within earshot can lead to holes in one's boat, tangled nets, and fishing up stones.