Sea Monkey

The Sea Monkey is a medium-sized, intelligent fauna species with a habit of stealing interesting objects.

Appearance
The Sea Monkey is predominantly light purple in color, with a larger blue stripe going down from it's head to it's forearm, and a smaller yellow stripe stretching down to its tail. It has a pair of squat, two-fingered forearms, each finger ending with a round, yellow pad. The underside of the body is pale gray and has a long fin that ends with a notch before the tail. Above this fin on the dorsal side are a pair of more rounded fins with a small triangular dorsal fin in front of them. There are two slit-shaped openings on the body, one on the chest and another on the lower flank. A pair of antenna-like protrusions are seen on the lower jaw, colored purple and tipped with blue. Adorning the top of the head is a large crest that is able to fold in and out. The crest is split into four sections and is mostly pale blue and edged with white.

Behavior
The Sea Monkey is passive, and spends most of its time swimming aimlessly. However, if the player is holding a tool, it will approach them and attempt to steal the item. This "attack" has two cues: a distinct chirping call from the creature, and an animation of it holding still, level with the player, and wiggling its fingers. This is followed by a fast straight-line lunge that can be evaded by moving quickly to the sides. If the player puts away their equipment before the Sea Monkey touches them (press E or the number key for the equipped item), it will still perform the lunge animation but will not take anything.

If the Sea Monkey makes contact while Robin still has an item in her hands, a short animation plays of trying to fend the creature off: Robin cannot move while this is playing. The Sea Monkey can steal every tool from the player. It can also pick up dropped Equipment, vehicle upgrades, and metals. After stealing an item, the Sea Monkey will either flee or sometimes taunt the player with it by swimming in circles around them.

An item a Sea Monkey is holding can be retrieved immediately in two ways: either by attacking the creature with a weapon such as the Survival Knife which will force it to drop the item and flee, or by swimming close and looking directly at the item in its hands to receive a "use" prompt to take it back. The hitbox for a tool in a Sea Monkey's hand is fairly small, so it requires precise aim.

If the player leaves the vicinity of a Sea Monkey that has stolen an object, it will store the object in a nearby Sea Monkey Nest.

A Sea Monkey will also steal some Deployables from the player's hand, including the Seaglide and Beacons. Stolen beacons will activate while held or stored in a nest. If a Sea Monkey steals a Flashlight from the player, it will remain lit.

Sea Monkeys can also steal certain dropped electronics, including Batteries, Power Cells, Ion Batteries, Ion Power Cells, and undepleted Reactor Rods. They will also take Camera Drones, even while the player is operating one. If the player controls the Camera Drone while it is stored in a nest, they can smash the roof open by repeatedly slamming the drone into the roof.

In addition to the above, Sea Monkeys will pick up dropped metals, including Copper Ore, Gold, Nickel Ore, and Silver Ore. It will not take ores directly from outcrops, but it can steal Nickel Ore that has been untouched, as they are not in outcrops. This only occurs in the Lilypad Islands biome as the Arctic Kelp Caves do not contain Nickel Ore. Current QA reports indicate that Sea Monkeys stealing Nickel Ore from its spawn locations is regarded as a bug.

Sea Monkeys are afraid of Flares; if the player is holding one, it will turn and swim away from the player at a moderately faster pace. However, if a Flare is in a Supply Box or floating freely while unlit, they can still take it.

After Al-An is transferred into Robin's brain, the behavior of Sea Monkeys changes. Rather than stealing things, they will begin to bring the player some resources such as Titanium, Copper Ore and Quartz. If the player ignores the Sea Monkey, it will drop its gift sorrowfully. After having this interaction for the first time, a brief conversation will be had between Robin and Al-An.

Design
The fingers of the Sea Monkey are inspired by those of several tree frog species, sharing the toe pads seen on many of them. The head of the creature is inspired by that of the beluga whale, whilst the lower body is somewhat similar in appearance to the body of the black ghost knifefish.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * In addition to normal Below Zero items that the Sea Monkey can steal, it can also take Kyanite, Cyclops and Seamoth upgrades, the cut Uranium, Bioscanner, and Hardened Blade, the Radiation Helmet, and Metal Salvage, none of which are present in Below Zero.
 * Sea Monkeys are currently the only creatures in both Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero shown to construct purpose-built nests for their eggs: the only other creature shown to have nesting behavior was the Ghost Leviathan.
 * Despite it not being present in Subnautica: Below Zero, Sea Monkeys can steal Metal Salvage from the player's hand.
 * The original concept of the Sea Monkey was a relative to the Crabsquid, the Pygmy Crabsquid (also known as a "Grabsquid")