Cuddlefish

The Cuddlefish is a friendly species of fauna that can only be obtained by hatching one of 5 Cuddlefish Eggs hidden in various locations. It takes about 20 minutes to hatch.

Hatched Appearance
The Cuddlefish's body is small, grey in color on the dorsal side, with white bioluminescent coloring on the ventral side, and a white stripe running along the length of its body from the top of its head to its rear-side. It has a slightly bloated belly and possesses no dorsal or caudal fins, sporting only a stubby pair of pectoral fins. Its body also features many small, wart-like lumps.

The Cuddlefish's head has two slightly bulging, forward facing eyes, along with a wide mouth and two small holes that seem to be nostrils.

At the end of the Cuddlefish's body, there are five tentacles that have the same grey and white color pattern.

Egg Appearance
The Cuddlefish Egg consists of a round, transparent outer membrane with three small bumps on the bottom. A small embryo is visible inside the egg.

The coloring of the egg's outer membrane is primarily light brown, with dark brown spots near the bottom. The Cuddlefish embryo inside has a similar patterning to the adult Cuddlefish, but with a light blue color instead of grey.

When close to hatching the baby inside can be seen trying to break out of the egg.

Behavior
The Cuddlefish uses its tentacles to propel itself and mostly swims around darting in circles and letting out various chirping noises, as well as occasionally swimming over to investigate objects that interest it such as small fauna or Fragments.

The Cuddlefish will either follow the player around or stay in one area when told to. The player can tell it to stop/start following them using.

The player can play with it using. It has various play actions, such as high fives, magic tricks, or cuddles, and will display various emotions depending on said action.

Although it is possible to have many Cuddlefish in a single Alien Containment unit, they will not breed, unlike all other fauna species that can be kept in one.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * The Cuddlefish's original name was Cute Fish. However, this was only a working name.
 * On the Sketchfab page, Cute Fish is misspelled as "Qute Fish." This is a result of the modeler misspelling it, as English was not their native language.
 * The Cuddlefish was originally meant to have the role of the Crashfish, as seen in the Concept art; however, the developers thought that it was "too cute" and thus created the Crashfish, and made the Cuddlefish a pet.
 * Before it was decided that the Cuddlefish would be a pet, it was planned to spawn in the Twisty Bridges.
 * There is a unique animation for the Cuddlefish before the player finishes the game: if the player interacts with a Cuddlefish before boarding the Neptune Escape Rocket, instead of high-fiving the player, the Cuddlefish will swim close and hug the player's arm affectionately. This also shows another level of the Cuddlefish's intelligence.
 * For a while during development, the Cuddlefish was going to be a pet only given to Early Access players or those buying the Special Edition. However, this was changed as the developers did not have time to implement the Special Edition.
 * The databank entry for the Cuddlefish reveals that the dolphins of Earth went extinct in the Subnautica universe.
 * It may have been inspired by the porcupinefish because of their similar faces, the spines on their bodies, and how the Cuddlefish puffs up in its concept art.
 * The appearance of the egg may have been inspired by those of the Cuttlefish, evidenced by resemblances of the eggs and foetus.
 * A hatched Cuddlefish cannot be used as Bioreactor fuel, although Cuddlefish Eggs can.
 * This also makes it the only hatchable fauna that cannot be used in the Bioreactor.
 * The Cuddlefish's egg can be placed inside a Time Capsule.

Bugs

 * If the player stands on the rim of a Moonpool and attempts to play with a Cuddlefish in the water below, the Cuddlefish will briefly "levitate" to perform the play animation, then drop back into the water.
 * If the player is standing inside a base piece and plays with the Cuddlefish, the Cuddlefish will go through the wall to preform the play animation and get stuck inside the base.