Project - Lantern serpent

Level of satisfaction:

This is the second illustration to my project. It didn't turn out as I wanted it. I had no idea how to colour it, so it became an experiment.

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Here are the short info about it:

<sub>"In the open waters of Zarath, among the many islands of Nicaroa and along the rocky coasts of Kolbonia - it is there the lantern serpent lives. It is one of the largest marine predators. It dwells at a depth of 20 - 200 metres, hunting fish, big crayfish, squids and sometimes the huge but slow armourfish. Hunting of these fishes requires cooperation between several serpents, but that rarely happens because they are mostly independent hunters.
Along the coasts of Kolbonia, the prey consists of feathershrimps and marine mammals like the phocapees.

The serpent has got lightproducing organs inside the wide mouth that draws prey to it during the night or down in the depths. These organs are also located along the body. The serpents are using them when they are communicating with each other.

When the spring comes, it is time for the serpents mating season, high up in the rivers. The most common rivers is the Golnau and Tirlos – the continents largest and longest. To get the finest places for their offspring, the serpents travels several miles. The higher up they can get, the less is the risk for the eggs to be washed out into the sea.
It is the bigger females that arrives first. All the way up, until rapids and waterfalls stops their way, the females fights each other to gain a territory. When everything is set – the males arrives. Once again the females fights. The reason is that less then a third of the worlds population consists males, and a male can only mate once each season.
When the male and female has mated, it takes two weeks before the eggs are made. Afterwards the female whips the eggs down into the gravel, where they develop for seven months. When the eggs hatches, the youngsters is about 40 cm long and very nimble. But of thousands of youngsters, only 3% survives until they are fully grown.
The youngsters stays in the river for three year, and when they finally travels to the sea, they have become six metres long."</sub>

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Watercolour and colour pencils on watercolour paper.
^{View the other four pictures in the ' Project ' series.
Makulua
Palusophos
Elgopod
Grimodour}