Bleeder

The Bleeder is an aggressive life form belonging to the fauna category. It mainly dwells the Kelp Forest and the Sparse Reef.

In the Aurora's generator room, several Bleeders can be found.

Appearance
The Bleeder is a small parasitic animal resembling a cross between a leech and a tick. It has four, retractable blue tentacles, as well as four big fangs, surrounding its mouth that are used to grab onto its prey and extract the blood.

The Bleeder's body is segmented, ending with a transparent bloated sac with swimming fins on both sides. It also has rows of spikes running along its body.

The entire body of the Bleeder seems to emit a faint bioluminescent glow.

Behavior
Bleeders usually swarm and are hostile to any types of fauna, both dead and alive, as well as to the player. They tend to gather themselves into a swarm and swim after the player within a small radius, after sensing their presence.

They attack the player by attaching themselves to the player's arm and start sucking blood, causing the transparent sac to fill up with the fluid. This causes very little damage, but it adds up over time. The Bleeder's attack will lower the food level of the player as well, so the player may starve whilst being under attack. The player needs to punch the Bleeder with their free arm in order to kill it; If the player happens to hold a tool in their free hand, the player will use it to hit the creature. The other way to force the Bleeder to release its grip is to swim for a certain distance.

When a Bleeder kills another creature, it will not detach itself, but rather continue to suck blood from it.

Data Bank Entry
A simple parasitic organism, little more evolved than the common tick.

Identifying features include a ductile sack on its rear end for collection and digestion of blood; and a jaw with rows of teeth and mandibles used to attach to the skin of its victims.

Prey: Known to target live organisms, the bleeder's low speed and poor defenses suggest they have evolved primarily as carrion feeders.

Assessment: Inconvenient and unhygienic

Gallery
For a more complete gallery, visit Bleeder/Gallery.