Frozen Leviathan

The Frozen Leviathan is the body of a huge leviathan class creature located within a large wall of ice in a Glacial Basin cave.

The body has been discovered by Alterra workers and corridors have been cut into the ice and staircases erected to allow better observation of the creature, and presumably to take samples.

Appearance
The Frozen Leviathan is a heavily-built creature with a broad body, four limbs and a long tail. This species is one of the largest seen to have lived on 4546B, much like many of the other extinct Leviathans found throughout 4546B. It greatly exceeds the size of the Sea Dragon Leviathan, and though shorter, it’s bulk may allow it to rival the size of the more gracile Sea Emperor Leviathan.

Running from just behind the shoulders to near the end of the tail is a row of large overlapping plates which gradually decrease in size as they move towards the tail. The tail is flattened laterally, and longer than the entire body. It is slightly broadened at the tip to assist with propulsion.

Its four limbs are heavily muscled and each ends with a five-digited paw. Each digit is tipped with a large claw. Additionally, on the undersides of each forelimb are three plates resembling those seen on the back. There is a small amount of webbing between the digits.

The head is broad, relatively flat and has a wide mouth filled with thin, long teeth; 34 in the lower jaw and 40 in the upper, for a total of 74. Placed behind the mouth on each side is a large sickle-shaped bony plate which projects straight forwards from the head. Another structure which is similar to these plates but smaller and pointing backwards rather than forwards is found further back on the head. The eyes are side-mounted and deeply recessed into the head.

The creature is noticeably infected with Kharaa.

In Life
The Leviathan specimen's species and age is currently unknown, but to be infected with Kharaa this individual must have been alive any time between 1000 years ago and now.

Based on their highly muscular limbs it is quite possible that this creature was capable of climbing onto and supporting its body on land. Due to the creature's considerable bulk, however, it is unlikely that it would have hunted on land, possibly only coming ashore to rest.

There is little webbing between the digits, meaning that propulsion using the limbs would have been inefficient. Instead, the long and flattened tail would have been used to propel the creature in water. It is likely that a crocodilian-like method of movement would have been adopted; keeping the limbs to the sides of the body with lateral flexion of the tail propelling the animal forwards.

The long thin teeth resemble those of large piscivorous animals, so the creature's diet was likely composed of much smaller creatures than itself, as these thin teeth are poorly-suited for grasping large prey. It is possible that the two bony plates found either side of the mouth could be moved by the creature and used to corral groups of fish into the mouth. An alternative usage for these plates could have been breaking sea ice in order to come up and rest, or combat between individuals over territories.

Design
The Frozen Leviathan has an appearance similar to that of the ancient amphibian Eryops, though far stockier and with a much longer tail. They share a similar body plan and a very similar head and tooth shape and potentially an amphibious lifestyle.

Gallery
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