Sand Shark

The Sand Shark is a fauna species dwelling mostly in the Grassy Plateaus, Crash Zone, and the Dunes. They prefer to stay close to, or beneath the sea floor and never wander near the surface.

Appearance
The Sand Shark's body is segmented and their dorsal surface is completely covered with a plated exoskeleton, having a grayish-violet upperside and a pinkish underbelly, with a brief gap where its muscle can be seen. Short, grey, leg-like appendages appear in two rows of six on its underside, used to disturb the surface of sand.

The Sand Shark's head features four orange eyes, which are divided into sets of two on each side, and a large fin-like protrusion on the top. It has a rather large mouth equipped with six rows of sharp, jagged teeth, which continue to go down the Sand Shark's throat.

Behavior
As its name implies, the Sand Shark tends to burrow into the sand and waits for unsuspecting prey to swim by for an ambush attack. When it does so, sand clouds start to form more and more dense in the surrounding area. Before attacking prey, it lets out a series of low growls, allerting the player to its presence. This makes them fairly easy to avoid, as the player can retreat back to the surface or vehicle before the Sand Shark has a chance to deal any damage.

Once its prey, or the player themselves, has approached close enough, the Sand Shark will emerge from the sand and chase them. The Sand Shark swims at a rather fast pace and can catch up to the player should they continue to swim in a straight line. To evade this, retreat to the safety of a submersible or base, or repeatedly change direction. If the player can reach the surface or evade damage for long enough, the Sand Shark will break off the chase and return to its previous location. Sand Sharks also occasionally wander into the Jellyshroom Caves and Kelp Forest, despite not being native to those biomes or spawning there.

Sand Sharks themselves make no attempts to dodge attacks, simply swimming in a straight line. As such, they are easy to repel with blasts from the Repulsion Cannon or a Torpedo System. When a Sand Shark is attacked, it will swim away extremely quickly until it is far enough away from its attacker.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * The concept art for this creature shows a Spinnerfish, which was cut from Subnautica but repurposed for Subnautica: Below Zero, where it can be found in the Arctic Kelp Caves, Deep Lilypads Cave, and Lilypad Islands.

Requin des sables Rekin Piaskowy