Specimen 30
Species: Aegean Merfolk (Chiranthricthys aegeanis)
Sex: Male.
Length: 18 feet/ 5.5 meters
Weight: 2,300 pounds/ 1,043 kg

This merfolk specimen is the only member of its species in captivity on this site, and is so far the largest of all merfolk measured by humans. This particular merfolk is standoffish, aggressive, and consistently an escape risk. Unlike some of the more timid specimens of the Caribbean and Indoaustralian merfolk species, this male refuses to be hand-fed or trained to interact with visitors and staff. Physical contact with this specimen is forbidden by most staff unless a medical intervention is required, which occurs only once every two years.

Like all species of merfolk, the Aegean merfolk is both gilled and lunged, meaning that they can survive both in and out of water (though the lungs are weak in comparison to permanent land residents and the gills drying rapidly restricts their on-land movement drastically). They are carnivorous, feeding on any aquatic animals small enough to fit in their mouths, but they appear to have a preference for crustaceans and bottom-feeders. Their forefins have adapted to have strong clawed digits that they frequently use to flip rocks, reach into crevices, and pry difficult prey such as triggerfish and spiny lobsters out of their holes. This particular species is much more specialist than others, as this male is a much sleeker open-water swimmer and has a strong taste for schooling fish instead of just benthic-dwellers. Seen here is the typical method of feeding, dangling mackerel and herring from a pole well out of reach of the beast's leaps and lunges. Merfolk are adept tool-users and need to be fed in ways which also give intellectual challenge--hiding food fish in holes in the enclosures, tossing fish to waiting merfolk to catch, and this means of using a pole to feed and encourage jumping. The jumping is also the only way this particular merfolk can be seen readily by the public, usually drawing in a large crowd as his leaping height is easily twice his own length.

Merfolk, having no vocal cords or similar system for producing noise, are incapable of speech but have a very intricate system of body language and gestural communication. Though this male is in a separate tank to keep zoo visitors from being attacked, the clear acrylic window between his enclosure and the other merfolk's is the optimal place to observe this communication, as this male seems desperate for interaction with other merfolk. One goal for the facility is to introduce a second captive Aegean merfolk into his tank in order to reduce stress-related illness risk produced by seclusion, as merfolk are intensely social.