Hycean


Hycean is a large, passive lifeform that flies through the air. Despite the PDA warning players to avoid the areas underneath the Hycean, it cannot damage the player directly. Occasionally, the Hycean will dip into the water deep enough for the player to stand on it, lifting them slightly into the air. Players may also use an Air Bladder to launch themselves onto its back, as these tools can propel players high into the sky. It is currently the only flying creature in the game.

Appearance

The Hycean resembles a zeppelin. It features a large, bulbous organ encased in a transparent membrane. This bulb is partially striped with iridescent colors and has bioluminescent spots that fade in and out at the tip of its cone shape. Behind this membrane are two pairs of fins: one pair faces upwards diagonally, while the secondary pair is vertical.

Extending from the bulbous organ is its head, which resembles a blue, flipped "L" shape. At the curve of this shape is a large, distinct blue ball. Further forward is a mouth that narrows at the end. From the mouth extend four long, dotted bioluminescent strings that droop into the water.

      

Behavior

The Hycean currently does not attack the player. However, it uses its long bioluminescent strings to grab lured-in organisms, drown them by lifting them out of the water, and then consume them.

Databank Entry

Hycean

Hycean hycean, a remarkable flying predator named for planets that mix a hydrogen sky and a water ocean.

1. Gasbag flyer Though descended from the same squidlike ancestor as the Houndgar and other Protean teuthis, the Hycean's mantle is full of buoyant hydrogen. The ancestral Hycean probably stored ammonia for buoyancy, like many Earth squid. The Hycean uses bacterial symbiotes to convert this ammonia into carbon nitride, which, when exposed to sunlight, splits seawater into oxygen and hydrogen lifting gas.

2. Predatory fisher Free of most predators, the Hycean drifts above the sea surface and snags prey with its arms. The larger a Hycean's gasbag, the more food it can afford to lift and digest. Large prey can be suffocated by holding them clear of the water until their gills dry out. The sails provide steerage in the wind, and can be flapped for emergency power.

3. Flammability risk Any spark may ignite the Hycean's gas bag, with disastrous results. Hyceans are acutely sensitive to electromagnetic activity, and may be forced to shelter in the water during thunderstorms.

4. Philosophical musings The buena vista hypothesis (proposed by Malcolm McIver) argues that advanced cognition could only evolve when Earth fish began to raise their eyes above water, allowing them to see far enough to require long-range behavioral planning. If this hypothesis is credited, then the Hycean — as one of the only discovered Protean species that lives outside water — may be unusually intelligent.

Recommendation: Avoid areas beneath Hyceans. Monitor for signs of high-level behavior, such as 'fertilizing' certain areas of the ocean with defecated waste.

Source: Scan a Hycean

Gallery

Development

 

Trivia

• The designer of the Hycean, Alex Ries, stated that the creature was based upon pelagic sea snails, such as heteropods, and siphonophores.
• The BFJ's databank entry implies that it is an earlier form of the Hycean.
• Before the "Adaptive Measures" Early Access updates, it was possible to get atop a Hycean using an Air Bladder. Another method was to wait for it to submerge and follow it until it resurfaced.
• Internally, the creature is known as "Jellyfisher" or "Jellyfisher_01".