Glow Whale

The Glow Whale (Placeholder name) is a leviathan class species of Subnautica: Below Zero.

Appearance
The Glow Whale is huge and whale-like in form, with the body ending in a fluked tail. Its eyes have yellow irises and large black pupils. Each eye has a pill-shaped photophore directly in front of it. Atop the head a pair of translucent blue "horns" can be seen.

The body displays countershading, with the dorsal side being grayish blue and the ventral side light blue. Well defined ridges are visible on the dorsal side. These run along the sides of its body from the head to the lower back, which is covered in white spots.

On either side of the Glow Whale, two huge, sail-like flippers extend diagonally upwards. The flippers have a dark blue top side and a slightly reflective underside, brown in colour with small glowing orange spots. At the tip of each flipper a small pod is attached by a long tendril. On the underside of the pod is a teardrop-shaped photophore. On the ventral side of the body, directly below each of the flippers is a far smaller fin. Barnacles and vegetation seem to thrive on various parts of the creature's body.

Behavior
According to the concepts, the Glow Whales act like gentle giants, passively swimming close to the water surface and often diving into deep waters in pods. They are planktivores, as they seem to hunt in groups for what appears to be "glowing krill".

Design
The Glow Whale appears to have convergently evolved with the baleen whales of Earth, sharing a very similar morphology and feeding behaviour. Though it lacks baleen plates entirely, it shares the longitudinal ridges possessed by rorquals along the ventral side of the body. Which allow for the body to expand when feeding. The spotted and ridged back of the Glow Whale is extremely similar in appearance to the backs of whale sharks, the largest fish on Earth.

Gallery
Concept Art=

Trivia

 * It was designed by Pat Presley during pre-production for Subnautica but never got past the concept phase. It has since been repurposed for Below Zero.