Shadow Leviathan

The Shadow Leviathan is a species of Leviathan-class predator found in the Crystal Caves.

Appearance
The Shadow Leviathan has an elongated black body with smooth skin and a pair of rows of 37 small red spots running from the neck to just before the tip of the tail. Below each row side is a shorter row of seven circular holes that only runs down the neck. The head is composed of a triangular shield with three pairs of small black eyes with large red ring in the centre. A long vertical slit lined with translucent blue "teeth" comprises the mouth. Directly below the mouth is a transparent sac in which recently consumed prey is stored.

Seven pairs of large clawed mandibles run down the sides of the mouth. These graspers have "teeth" along the inside edge to assist in securing prey. Seven more pairs of these appendages can be seen running down the body, decreasing in size as they get closer to the tail to the point that the final three pairs are little more than a small spine. This gives the impression that these grasping appendages once served as legs in a distant ancestor but have since been re-purposed into their current form.

Propulsion comes from the large fins on the tail portion of the Shadow Leviathan's body. Though lacking a tail fluke, a large fin is present around halfway down the body on both the dorsal and ventral sides. With the ventral fin having two smaller fins in front of and behind it. The tail ends with a red point.

Design
The tail portion of the body is very similar in appearance to the black ghost knifefish and the row of holes on the neck resemble the gill openings possessed by lampreys. The mouth and mandible design was based on the heads of arrow worms.

Gallery
In Game=

Concept Art=  Shadow Leviathan.jpg|Final concept - by Alex Ries ShadowLeviathanFront.jpeg|Front view Alex leviathan016.jpg|Near-final concept - by Alex Ries Shadow Leviathan 2.jpg|Earlier version of final - by Alex Ries Alex-ries-alex-leviathan012.png|Earlier version - by Alex Ries Alex-ries-alex-leviathanmouths01.png|Alternate mouth designs - by Alex Ries Shadow Leviathan 5A.png|Intermediary design - by Alex Ries Shadow Leviathan 5B.png|Ditto, mouth open - by Alex Ries Shadow Leviathan 3.jpg|Scrapped alternate design choice - by Alex Ries Shadow Leviathan 3A.jpg|Head shots of scrapped design - by Alex Ries Shadow Leviathan 3B.jpg|Ditto Shadow Leviathan 4.jpg|Older concept - by Alex Ries Alex-ries-alex-leviathan0b.png|Early sketches - by Alex Ries Alex-ries-alex-leviathan02b.png|Early sketches - by Alex Ries Shadow Leviathan 0.png|First concept - by Alex Ries