Fauna

This article is about Fauna in Subnautica. For the related article on the Below Zero Wiki, see Fauna.

This article is about Fauna. You may be looking for Flora.

Read at own risk This article contains unmarked spoilers. Players new to the game would want to avoid or be cautious toward this article.

Fauna is the term for animals, in this case, the animals of Planet 4546B. Fauna in Subnautica can be found all over the planet, from the deep and dark depths of the secretive Lost River to the vibrant Safe Shallows, and even to the fiery pits of the Lava Lakes.

Fauna on Planet 4546B comes in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the tiny, cave-dwelling Rockgrub, to the colossal Sea Dragon Leviathan that spews molten minerals from its mouth. Fauna on Planet 4546B is capable of enduring and adapting to various environments , although unable to thrive due to the presence of the Kharaa Bacterium. Certain species of small fauna can sometimes be seen forming mostly noninteractive shoals. Fauna on 4546B also has yellow blood. The fact that the appearance of some species of the planet being similar to that of planet Earth species can be explained as a simple case of convergent evolution.

The player can scan Fauna with the Scanner, allowing them to view information about the creatures in their PDA.

Spoiler alert: The following section contains story related material.
Additional scans after unlocking the Data Bank Entry for that particular species of Fauna alert the player as to whether or not the specimen is infected with Kharaa, via the small screen protruding from the Scanner's left side.

Reproduction

Most known fauna species on Planet 4546B are simultaneous hermaphrodites, meaning that they have a single-sex capable of playing the role of either the male or female in reproduction and every individual being able to lay eggs and fertilize them. Two parents are still required to fertilize the eggs once laid, making it sexual reproduction. At least one fauna species is exempt from this and reproduces entirely asexually although the norm for the planet is sexual reproduction, as can be observed in all species that can be placed in an Alien Containment unit who will require two individuals of their species to produce eggs. The only species that does not reproduce is the Warper due to the fact they are artificial fauna.

Spoiler alert: The following section contains story related material.

The only one of the complex fauna species on the planet known to be an exception to this rule is the Sea Emperor Leviathan species, which is entirely asexual and does not require a mate. It is possible that the Sea Dragon Leviathan shares this method of reproduction as it is likely the closest living relative of the Sea Emperor Leviathan and was being studied by the Precursor Race in order to learn more about the Sea Emperor's reproduction.

All known complex species on 4546B reproduce via egg-laying.

Invertebrates make up the minority of fauna species within the crater on Planet 4546B, around 16.5%, contrasting with Earth on which invertebrates make up around 97% of fauna species.

List of Fauna

Carnivores

Fauna Name and ID	Attitude	Biome
Ampeel Shocker	Aggressive	Blood Kelp Caves Blood Kelp Zone Bulb Zone
Biter Biter	Aggressive	Crash Zone Mesas Grassy Plateaus Jellyshroom Cave Mountain Island Mountains Mountains Caves
Blighter Blighter	Aggressive	Blood Kelp Caves Blood Kelp Zone
Boneshark Boneshark	Aggressive	Bulb Zone Crag Field Crash Zone Mesas Mushroom Forest Primary Containment Facility Aquarium Underwater Islands
Crabsnake Crabsnake	Aggressive	Jellyshroom Cave
Crabsquid Crabsquid	Aggressive	Blood Kelp Caves Blood Kelp Zone Deep Grand Reef Lost River Corridor Ghost Canyon
File:Crash Fauna.png Crashfish Crash	Defensive	Kelp Forest Caves Safe Shallows Caves
Lava Lizard lavalizard	Aggressive	Inactive Lava Zone Corridor Inactive Lava Zone Lava Lakes Lava Castle
Mesmer mesmer	Aggressive	Bulb Zone Bulb Zone Caves Crag Field Kelp Forest Caves Lost River Mushroom Forest
River Prowler spineeel	Aggressive	Lost River
Sand Shark sandshark	Aggressive	Crash Zone Dunes Grassy Plateaus
Stalker stalker	Aggressive	Kelp Forest Kelp Forest Caves Primary Containment Facility Aquarium
Warper warper	Aggressive when target is infected with the Kharaa Bacterium Passive when target is not infected	Blood Kelp Zone Deep Grand Reef Dunes Grand Reef Inactive Lava Zone Inactive Lava Zone Corridor Lava Lakes Lost River Mountain Island Mountains Sea Treader's Path

Herbivores

Fauna Name and ID	Attitude	Biome
Bladderfish bladderfish	Passive	Grand Reef Grassy Plateaus Kelp Forest Mushroom Forest Primary Containment Facility Aquarium Safe Shallows
Boomerang boomerang	Passive	Crag Field Crash Zone Bulb Zone Deep Grand Reef Dunes Grand Reef Grassy Plateaus Grassy Plateaus Caves Kelp Forest Kelp Forest Caves Mountain Island Mountains Caves Mushroom Forest Primary Containment Facility Aquarium Safe Shallows Safe Shallows Caves Sea Treader's Path Sea Treader's Tunnel Caves Underwater Islands
Crimson Ray ghostrayred	Passive	Inactive Lava Zone Lava Lakes
Cuddlefish cutefish	Passive	Eggs Deep Grand Reef Degasi Base Dunes Sinkhole Lost River Laboratory Mushroom Forest Caves
Eyeye eyeye	Passive	Bulb Zone Bulb Zone Caves Crash Zone Dunes Grand Reef Jellyshroom Cave Kelp Forest Sea Treader's Path Sea Treader's Tunnel Caves
Garryfish garryfish	Passive	Crash Zone Mesas Dunes Primary Containment Facility Aquarium Safe Shallows Safe Shallows Caves Underwater Islands
Gasopod gasopod	Defensive	Crash Zone Mesas Dunes Safe Shallows
Ghostray ghostrayblue	Passive	Lost River
Holefish holefish	Passive	Bulb Zone Caves Crash Zone Mushroom Forest Caves Primary Containment Facility Aquarium Safe Shallows Safe Shallows Caves
Hoopfish hoopfish	Passive	Bulb Zone Crag Field Grand Reef Grassy Plateaus Kelp Forest Kelp Forest Caves Mountains Primary Containment Facility Aquarium Sea Treader's Path Sea Treader's Tunnel Caves Underwater Islands
Hoverfish hoverfish	Passive	Crash Zone Crash Zone Mesas Kelp Forest Primary Containment Facility Aquarium
Jellyray jellyray	Passive	Deep Grand Reef Mushroom Forest
Magmarang lavaboomerang	Passive	Inactive Lava Zone Inactive Lava Zone Corridor Lava Lakes
Oculus oculus	Passive	Jellyshroom Cave Primary Containment Facility Aquarium
Peeper peeper	Passive	Crash Zone Crash Zone Mesas Dunes Grand Reef Mountains Northeastern Mushroom Forest Safe Shallows Sparse Reef Primary Containment Facility Aquarium
Rabbit Ray rabbitray	Passive	Crash Zone Kelp Forest Primary Containment Facility Aquarium Safe Shallows
Red Eyeye lavaeyeye	Passive	Inactive Lava Zone Inactive Lava Zone Corridor Lava Lakes
Reginald reginald	Passive	Crag Field Crash Zone Crash Zone Mesas Deep Sparse Reef Grand Reef Grassy Plateaus Grassy Plateaus Caves Lost River Mountains Caves Mountains Primary Containment Facility Aquarium Sparse Reef
Skyray skyray	Passive	Crash Zone Floating Island Mountain Island Lifepod 5
Spadefish spadefish	Passive	Deep Sparse Reef Dunes Grand Reef Grassy Plateaus Mushroom Forest Mushroom Forest Caves Sea Treader's Path Sea Treader's Tunnel Caves Sparse Reef Underwater Islands
Spinefish spinefish	Passive	Blood Kelp Caves Blood Kelp Zone Lost River Bone Fields Caves

Scavengers & Parasites

Fauna Name and ID	Attitude	Biome
Amoeboid	Passive	Disease Research Facility Lost River Bone Fields Ghost Canyon Ghost Forest Junction Mountains Corridor
​​​​ Ancient Floater	Passive	Floating Island Underwater Islands
Bleeder bleeder	Aggressive	Aurora Deep Sparse Reef Grassy Plateaus Grassy Plateaus Caves Kelp Forest Kelp Forest Caves Lost River Sparse Reef
Blood Crawler shuttlebug	Aggressive	Blood Kelp Zone Blood Kelp Caves Lost River
Cave Crawler cavecrawler	Aggressive	Aurora Dunes Dunes Caves Floating Island Mountain Island Mountains Caves Primary Containment Facility Aquarium Safe Shallows Safe Shallows Caves Underwater Islands Caves
Floater floater	Passive	Blood Kelp Zone Floating Island Grassy Plateaus Safe Shallows Underwater Islands
Lava Larva lavalarva	Passive	Inactive Lava Zone Inactive Lava Zone Corridor Lava Lakes
Rockgrub rockgrub	Passive	Bulb Zone Bulb Zone Caves Dunes Dunes Caves Deep Sparse Reef
Shuttlebug jumper	Passive	Bulb Zone Crag Field Crash Zone Deep Sparse Reef Dunes Dunes Caves Grassy Plateaus Caves Mountains Mountains Caves Mushroom Forest Caves Primary Containment Facility Aquarium Sea Treader's Path Sea Treader's Tunnel Caves Sparse Reef

Leviathans

Fauna Name and ID	Attitude	Biome
Ghost Leviathan  ghostleviathan ghostleviathanjuvenile	Aggressive	Crater Edge Grand Reef Lost River Bone Field Ghost Forest Northern Blood Kelp Zone
Reaper Leviathan reaperleviathan	Aggressive	Aurora Crash Zone Crash Zone Mesas Dunes Mountains
Reefback Leviathan reefback	Passive	Blood Kelp Zone Bulb Zone Crag Field Grassy Plateaus Mushroom Forest Sparse Reef Underwater Islands
Sea Dragon Leviathan seadragon	Aggressive	Inactive Lava Zone Lava Lakes
Sea Emperor Leviathan	Passive	Adult Primary Containment Facility Aquarium Juvenile Blood Kelp Zone Crag Field Dunes Grand Reef Mountains
Sea Treader Leviathan seatreader	Defensive	Grand Reef Sea Treader's Path Sea Treader's Tunnel Caves

Extinct Species

Name	Location Of Remains	Age	Living Relatives
Alpha Peeper Species	N/A	Tens if not hundreds of millions of years old	Peeper Reginald Eyeye Oculus Red Eyeye
Alpha Ray Species	N/A	Many millions of years old	Crimson Ray Ghostray Jellyray Rabbit Ray
Ancient Skeleton	Lost River Laboratory Cache	1,000,000 years	Unknown
Gargantuan Fossil	Lost River Bones Field Lost River Ghost Forest	3,000,000 years	Unknown
Research Specimen Theta	Disease Research Facility	1000 years	Biter Blighter Sand Shark Boneshark Rockgrub

Gallery

Subnautica fauna Sheet 1

Subnautica fauna Sheet 2

Various fauna & flora renders

Various fauna renders

Trivia

• As of the Dangerous Creatures update, all fauna have yellow blood. Before this update, all fauna had red blood. This is due to the ESRB giving Subnautica a higher rating than expected due to red blood.
  • Scientifically speaking, the fauna of planet 4546B might have high concentrations of vanabin in their blood.
• Fauna were once intended to possess inherent attributes, that would have caused them to exhibit unique behaviors. These included, e.g., "Fertile" (occasionally lay eggs that can be hatched), "Alpha" (attacked the player if other creatures were killed by the player in the immediate vicinity), "Complex" (specimens take longer to scan), "Greater" (specimens are of larger size and weight). This however was scrapped upon the final release.
• In the very early stages of Subnautica, there was many unused and cut fauna.
  • An unused creature named the Sandworm could only be found in the Entity Gallery. It was intended stay in one place under the ground, and when the player or an npc was right above it, it would spring up and would do 1 damage at a very fast rate. It only had animations for shooting out of the ground, going back into its hole, and an idle animation.
  • The unused Grabcrab creature would leave its burrow and search for items to drag back to its hole. These items included small resources, and even small fish. Its burrow also had the same model as the Grabcrab.
  • The Rock Puncher was a fauna that would have used its large appendages to smash terrain. However it is making an appearance in Subnautica: Below Zero in the Thermal Spires Biome.
  • Unused clusters of Bloom Plankton can be spawned in the game, and react to light. They will glow red if a Flare is shining on them, and white if a Flashlight or Vehicle's light is shining on them.
  • In the Early Access Release trailer, the Large Bird can be seen flying among the Skyrays. They were cut entirely out of the game sometime before Early Access, making their appearance in the trailer the last time they were seen.