| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Mobile |
| Category | Foragers |
| Attitude | Passive |
| Biome | Tar Trenches |
| Scan Tool | Bioscanner |
The Trench Lantern is a Lifeform that is native to the Tar Delta region.
Appearance
The Trench Lantern bears a resemblance to the Veps, such as the broad plating that can be drawn closer into the body and end in singular, long claws, similar to those of the Vep Sensor. These plates are directly connected to the central body of the Trench Lantern, however, as opposed to being connected by elongate forelimbs.
The central body of the Trench Lantern is covered in long, tendril-like appendages that follow behind it as it moves, and which currently serve an unknown purpose.
Behavior
While idle, the Trench Lantern swims around slowly and aimlessly. When a Collector Leviathan is in its vicinity, the Trench Lantern turns red and flees quickly away from the leviathan. Once it is a safe distance away, the Trench Lantern turns back to green.
Databank Entry
Trench lantern
Teuthis schismifanos, the crevice lantern squid. Apparently a juvenile or larval stage of a larger cephalopod.
1. Cephalopod Protean cephalopods are distinguished by their toroidal nerve braids and limbs surrounding the mouth or head. The trench lantern lacks these limbs, but its body contains buds that may develop further. Spectrogenetic analysis places it firmly within the Polypodia clade.
2. Neoteny The trench lantern displays the telltale signs of a juvenile—a large head, large eyes and incompletely developed internal structures. The adult likely retains the juvenile's head crest, beak, and raptorial food-handling limbs. If the trench lantern is a true larva, it may undergo a dramatic metamorphosis into adulthood. Terrestrial cephalopods do not have a larval stage, but fish do.
3. Behavior Trench lanterns dwell in crevices and canyons, venturing out onto the open seafloor to gather crustaceans and other hard-shelled prey. They are highly sensitive to sound, which they track with an array of cilia connected to an internal nerve bulb. Trench lanterns are drawn to the low-frequency emissions of song stars, though there is no apparent adaptive benefit to this behavior.
4. Curiosity and flight Trench lanterns will flee into their home crevices at any sign of danger—especially the approach of a leviathan predator. Paradoxically, they are intensely curious and often fixate on novel objects and organisms, probing and test-biting them. As a visible marker of safety and danger, trench lanterns may act as a scout and early warning system for other prey species.
Conclusion: harmless to divers and submarines. When trench lanterns descend, danger approaches.
Source: Scan a Trench Lantern
Gallery
In Game
Development
Trivia
- The Trench Lantern databank entry strongly implies they are the larval phase of the Collector Leviathan.
- The Trench Lantern was first publicly shown in Subnautica 2 | Update Vlog: Early Access 1.2 - Buddy System, during which a group of them could be seen fleeing from a Collector Leviathan.
