Cuddlefish

Overview

The Cuddlefish is a medium, passive fauna that can only be obtained by hatching one of 5 Cuddlefish Eggs hidden in various locations. It takes about 20 real-life minutes to hatch.

Unlike other fauna, the Cuddlefish cannot be found in the wild; all specimens are artificially hatched from alien containment units. It is highly intelligent, curious, and forms strong emotional bonds with the player.

Appearance

Hatched Appearance

The Cuddlefish's body is small and grey on the dorsal side, with white bioluminescent coloring on the ventral side. A white stripe runs along the length of its body from the top of its head to its rear. It has a slightly bloated belly and possesses no dorsal or caudal fins, sporting only a stubby pair of pectoral fins. Its body features many small, wart-like lumps.

The head has two slightly bulging, forward-facing eyes, a wide mouth that appears to be grinning happily, and two small nostril-like holes. At the end of its body are five tentacles matching the grey and white color pattern.

Egg Appearance

The Cuddlefish Egg consists of a round, transparent outer membrane with three small bumps on the bottom. A small embryo is visible inside. The membrane is primarily light brown with dark brown spots near the bottom. The embryo inside has a similar patterning to the adult but with a light blue color instead of grey.

When close to hatching, the baby inside can be seen trying to break out of the egg.

Behavior

Cuddlefish will aimlessly swim around and flee if approached by shark-classified fauna. They will follow the player and warp to them if they are too far away. Occasionally, they may swim after small classified fauna.

• Commands: Cuddlefish can be commanded to stop following the player with RMB. They can be commanded to follow again with RMB.
• Interaction: Interacting with LMB allows the player to play with the Cuddlefish, performing actions such as high-fives, tickling, or watching magic tricks.
• Breeding: Unlike other fauna, Cuddlefish do not breed inside Alien Containment.

Farewell Interaction

After building the Neptune Escape Rocket Cockpit, the player can "Say Farewell" to the Cuddlefish using RMB. Upon interacting, the Cuddlefish wraps a tentacle around the player’s hand and rests its head on it.

Data Bank Entry

A small, gray-colored herbivore, the cuddlefish displays high levels of intelligence, curiosity and attachment. Strangely this species has not been encountered in the wild, and the scanned specimen had to be artificially hatched within an alien containment unit.

1. Lifecycle: In the absence of wild specimens little can be known for certain about the cuddlefish's lifecycle. It is possible that environmental conditions have changed, forcing the species to the edge of extinction, and leaving its eggs in permanent stasis. It is also possible the cuddlefish has been genetically altered, or even imported to 4546B from another world.
2. Behavior: We do know that the cuddlefish is a herbivore which displays highly social behavior in its interspecies interactions. As was observed in earth dolphins before their extinction, this creature seems to understand the concept of other minds, the prime indicator of true sentience, and attempts to communicate with a series of chirps and chirrups.
3. Interaction: Evidence suggests the cuddlefish is capable of understanding and following simple commands, in addition to assessing the emotional state of individuals around it and responding in kind.

Assessment: Emotional connection between living creatures is an essential component of psychological health

Acquisition

Cuddlefish Egg

To obtain a Cuddlefish, the player must find one of the scattered eggs, place it in an Alien Containment unit, wait for it to hatch (approx. 20 minutes), and then release it.

Achievement

"Man's Best Friend"

Hatch and release a Cuddlefish.

To obtain this achievement, the player must find a Cuddlefish Egg, hatch it in Alien Containment, and release it into the water.

Trivia

• The Cuddlefish's original working name was Cute Fish. On Sketchfab, it was misspelled as "Qute Fish" due to the modeller's non-native English.
• Originally, the Cuddlefish was intended to fill the role of the Crashfish. Developers deemed it "too cute" and created the Crashfish separately, making the Cuddlefish a pet.
• Before finalizing its role as a universal pet, it was planned to be exclusive to Early Access players or Special Edition buyers.
• The databank entry reveals that dolphins on Earth went extinct in the Subnautica universe.
• It may have been inspired by the porcupinefish due to similar facial features and puffing behavior in concept art.
• The egg's appearance may be inspired by Cuttlefish eggs and fetuses.
• A hatched Cuddlefish cannot be used as Bioreactor fuel, though the eggs can. This makes it the only fauna immune to Bioreactor usage.
• The Cuddlefish's egg can be placed inside a Time Capsule.
• It is tied with the Reefback for having the most health among all killable creatures.
• The Cuddlefish has an unused attack behavior node dealing 30 damage, likely leftover from earlier development stages.

Bugs

• If the player stands on the rim of a Moonpool and plays with a Cuddlefish below, the fish may briefly "levitate" to perform the animation before dropping back into the water.
• If the player is inside a Seabase component and plays with the Cuddlefish, the fish may clip through the wall and get stuck inside the base. It can be retrieved using a Moonpool and Propulsion Cannon.