Slan

     The slan are the top predator on the oceanic world on which the DuSkai and the Le’Trai live. The world is primarily ocean, with a few large islands (no larger than Iceland), mostly clustered in a small area of the northern hemisphere.

     The slan are a tropical species (although there are similar creatures in the colder and polar waters) and cruise through the upper layers and currents of the warm waters around the topics and equator of their world. They may grow anywhere up to four-metre-long monsters, although the average slan grows no longer than two metres. The forefins are bony and reinforced, but the rest of the fins are for navigation.

     For predators, they look relatively innocuous; they resemble sleek, silvery blue fish-eels, with large bullet-shaped heads, six eyes and three-part jaws – the lower part of the jaw splits into two down the centre, with interlocking teeth that join the two halves together when the animal isn’t feeding.
     The animal has no favoured prey simply because it’ll consume anything it can swallow. Prey is caught by harpooning it on the tongue, which is muscular and lined with the same elastic ligaments as secure the jaws; like with a chameleon, the tongue is mounted on a “spring” of interlocking bones, and flung explosively forwards to skewer the prey. The barbs are backward pointing and tipped with a blend of narcotics and digestive enzymes, stunning the prey and preventing it swimming off as the slan reels it in. The digestive enzymes allow the slan to then disengage the barbs, and swallow the prey.
     The jaws do not strictly dislocate, as a snake’s would, since they are not fully connected in the first place – the hinge is formed by stretchy ligaments, which can allow the animal to swallow larger prey. The inner margin of the jaws are similarly lined with barbs, so the food can only go one way – in.