Pistrix

A male pistrix.

Pistrix (Apocapisces regalecus), also known as pistrici (singular pistrice), or as serpents rouge in France, or even by the evocative name of reddragon sirens in English-speaking places, are a genus of sentient aquatic creatures.
Unlike the more well-known and common merfolk, pistrix cannot breathe atmospheric oxygen, lacking lungs. They share a number of aesthetic and physiological characteristics with the pacific oarfish (Regalecus glesne), so much so that the other merfolk species themselves often refer to pistrix simply as "oarfish".

They are sadly known as harbingers of bad news and, according to some, even of the apocalypse. 

Appearance 

Pistrix have a humanoid torso, with two arms, generally slightly longer than a human's, and hands with opposable thumbs, contrasting with a lower body that is extremely similar to the rear of an oarfish. 
Their body is completely devoid of scales. 
Adults have a pale silver, ribbon-shaped body from the waist down, laterally compressed and extremely elongated, with a dorsal fin extending the entire length. Their color ranges from pale pink to bright red, passing through orange and rust, although deep scarlet is the most common. 
The body often features wavy dark spots, sometimes in the form of dots and sometimes stripes.

Typical adult female

A series of faint horizontal stripes, similar to "grill marks," is evident in some specimens, while absent in others. After death, specimens rapidly lose all color and pattern. 
Pistrix have extremely long bodies: the longest specimen ever measured exceeded seventeen meters in length from forehead to the tip (autotomized, therefore finless) of its body. 
Adult pistrix rarely possess a tail, due to the very common autotomy, or voluntary detachment of the last portion of the body (similar to the way lizards shed their tails). For years, it was believed their bodies abruptly ended without a tail fin. Now, the true appearance of these creatures' tails is known: they have a unique "webbed" appearance, reminiscent of a dragon's wing, and, like the dorsal fin, are very vividly colored, generally scarlet red. 
Their skin, although scaleless, is densely tuberculatized, especially on the ventral area, where these small, horny protuberances resemble small, sharp-tipped cones and are one of the few defenses these creatures possess against predators.  

Behavior

Although their serpentine appearance has inspired legends of these creatures moving on land, pistrix are fully adapted to living in the ocean, at depths of at least 150 meters. 

Not only are they unable to crawl on land (unlike their naga cousins, also belonging to the Apocapisces genus), but being forced onto land is a highly traumatic experience for them. Their delicate bodies, lacking the protection of scales, are easily damaged when dragged along the ground, especially given their weight, and they are too compressed laterally to crawl on their bellies. 

Furthermore, they cannot breathe on land, unlike merfolks. 

If a pistrix manages to survive on dry land for hours, it is only thanks to their extraordinary resistance to low oxygen concentrations, but if they are not re-hydrated with salty water, they still risk dying of dehydration within the first fifty to sixty minutes.

Typical adult male

Diet

Despite their imposing size and menacing, sharp appearance, pistrix are harmless to most marine creatures, feeding almost exclusively on small crustaceans.

Life Cycle 

Unlike merfolk, pistrix lay eggs; these are able to float in the water column thanks to a few drops of oil present under their thin, semi-transparent shells. 

The eggs hatch into extremely ornate young, with long-rayed fins and small, poorly muscled arms, which only over time take on the "human" appearance of those of adults. Pistrix hatchlings are overall much more fish-like than primate-like, and lack the characteristics that make them anthropomorphic: their eyes are very large and lateral, their hands are tiny and webbed, their torso somewhat flattened laterally, and their gill covers are very prominent.

Reproduction 

Pistrix are strictly monogamous and bond with a single partner for life, a characteristic that underpins all their social interactions, their way of life, their hunting, and their raising their young. 

Their courtship is lengthy and complex: the choice of a mate begins when the pistrix are still young, and consists of a series of approaches that will ultimately reduce the social group of young to about twenty individuals. Each individual in that group will then be subjected to a test known as the "love knot": a dance in which the two pistrix circle each other, trying not to touch, despite being very close together—an extremely difficult task given their great body length. 

During the love knot, the two individuals must demonstrate a strong connection and be able to reliably predict the other's movements. If the two individuals touch each other more than three times during the dance, the courtship has failed, and the two pistrix will attempt to court someone else in their social group until they manage to tie a perfect love knot with one of them. 

Their breeding season occurs during the cold months, specifically October, November, and December, and when it arrives, the individuals move, obviously in pairs, to specific locations in the sea known as "hatching grounds". 

Hatching grounds are territories considered "neutral" by other merfolk, and therefore uninhabited. However, specific tribes of Maregens may attempt to conquer these territories, which the pistrix consider crucial to their survival, and in these cases, fierce clashes between the species can occur. Defending the hatching grounds is the only circumstance in which pistrix are willing to fight with Maregens in modern times. 

Hatching sites often develop around human-made structures, such as weather buoys, abandoned oil rigs, and floating garbage islands, where newborns can hide.

 

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