#inkling and octoling biology

[ribbondee]

So according to the first Splatoon direct, Inklings can actually freely change their skin and eye colors. At first I thought it was odd, then I remembered that IRL squids and octopuses can change the color and/or texture of their skin and such.

One has to wonder if it's done using the same method, and whether or not it applies to their ink colors as well.

I hope I'm not being captain obvious lmao

[aeriona]

HEY! Do you guys like squid biology? creature headcanons? cool art? well BOY do I have the document for you~~!

It is with great pleasure to show off this absolute chonker of an art/writing project; The Mollusc Era! BEHOLD, MY MAGNUM OPUS!

In this document I go over the intricacies of various cephalopods; Inklings, Octolings, Cuttlings and even the Nautilus! The entire study is illustrated by yours truly, so there's plenty of pretty pictures to gawk at as well as pages upon pages of my concentrated autism ramblings to pour over if that's also your thing. Enjoy!

I’ve also included a Legacy Version of the document: a much older, unfinished version complete with ancient-ass art from mid last year in all of its poorly-rendered glory. A lot of the information in there is also outdated and poorly written, so good luck with that. yuck.

I recommend viewing both of these on desktop as the formatting seems to work best on there. You're more than welcome to use any of the info in there for whatever you like, if you're gonna use my art please credit me though! cheers!

[wavebreakr]

Splatoon artists, how creature are your inkfish?

It’s crazy the variety of how people draw inkfish, so here’s a little game :)

Reblog and put in the tags, and if you’re not an artist you can put how you imagine inkfish

(For an example, canon would be about 2 due to some features like the beak/mouth and fingers being stylized)

[zikadraws]

POV : you just complimented two young punks about their ear piercings and they thank you by schooling you to hell and back

-Long story short ; I have a feeling that since they have no visible eardrum hole to actually serve the hearing function, the inkfish "ears" aren't actually their ears, but the humanoid version of their fins ; or more accurately of the floppy bits on their heads from their original species.

So they aren't actually ears, but they're used for fashion, conveying emotions (they can move them more or less consciously, much like a cat), and also and mainly for protecting their actual ears, located behind them, from weather conditions (like wind or sand storms), from direct impact during fighting circumstances, and from currents, like when they swim.

Their headphones are actually always designed to somehow cover the little slits that are their actual ears. (The fins play as mere structural support then.)

...This is a theory of mine that just kinda jumped in my face when thinking about how Inkling ears are completely flat, and even if it isn't going to stop me from drawing their fins like actual ears, it's cool to have an explanation about that design. Hope you like it too 🤗

(Also side note but I love coming up with random Inkfish designs when illustrating this kind of stuff. Enjoy heavily tattooed Inkling guy, blue-ringed Octoling with the toupee tentacut and OctoGirl with lesbian flag-themed tentacut. Happy Pride.) (:

[rassicas]

I wanted to clarify about the inkfish's blood color? I was told there is a bit in the latest art book confirming they have red blood but i am yet to see a source so i wanted to ask

Gear acquired by our researchers Red Hammertreads Anakki has caught on to the latest trends, and has presented a collection of "looting"-themed footwear. The message of "Take what you want by force!" resonated with the boom of rough and rugged Splatlandian fashion, creating some die-hard fans. The motif of the collection is a gangster octopus, which has turned deep red due to the blood that's risen to its head.** This deep crimson color is symbolic of the collection.

**頭に血が上る means to be agitated or excited, but literally something like "blood to rise to one's head". with all the mentions of dark red, this word choice connecting it to blood was deliberate so i left it in.

Turning red due to agitation in this case might be implying its like a deimatic display rather than literal blood, but regardless that is still a connection of red blood and octopuses.

regardless of if you want to take this as solid proof of inklings/octolings having red blood, there are some other things that hint at them having red blood. like this art showing some inklings with ears and noses tinted red from the cold:

or this concept art for an inkling anatomical model, with the insides tinted red

There's also how the inside of the mouths of the squid sisters is a fleshy pink/red color rather than a color connected to their ink color, but theres some weirdness with how consistent mouth colors are If you're thinking, "but wouldnt it make more sense for them to have blue blood because they're cephalopods?" this is what i thought too. While blue blood is fine for sea dwelling cephalopods to have blue blood, it's inefficient for carrying oxygen for land dwelling creatures. Inklings and octolings took on many adaptations to make them more suited for land, so why not their blood? If the concept of a mollusc evolving from having blue to red blood sounds farfetched, this exact thing has happened to ramshorn snails!

Other option is they literally have ink blood which *shrug* idk they are creatures of Flesh and Organs so Im inclined to believe they have actual blood that, like the organs, we don't see because Family Friendly Game . I mean, we know for sure salmonids have actual flesh and blood (you can literally buy their meat in mako mart) but in game they just kind of explode like ink bags. anyway in short: not explicitly confirmed what kind of blood inklings and octolings have but with the S3 artbook and these few other examples i think red blood is a real possibility.

[shatteredoctoguts]

Whazzup, xeno splatoon time

[cookie-cuttles]

Alright I've been thinking about this for way too long so now I'm spreading the curse to everyone else:

Inklings can make a scratchy comb noise by running their tongue on their beak.

[weakestwarrior]

I gave all the eye colors in splatoon 3 genotypes.

I am not a geneticist, just someone who thinks heredity and genetics are fascinating. Below the cut are pictures of all eyes colors + their genotypes + the genotypes written out for those that need it!

Inkling Models <- image(s) source

Before we dive in, a few quick things that will make this easier to understand!

* indicates a mutation! M-D means “mutation dominant”, meaning it occurs when either a homozygous dominant + heterozygous dominant, and it means that the mutation would be dominant over homozygous recessive pairs but not hetero itself or homozygous dominant pairs.

Example: Xx* is not more dominant than Xx or XX. Xx* & Xx have the same level of dominance!

M-R means “mutation recessive”, meaning the mutation occurs on a homozygous recessive pair. The M-R is not more dominant/recessive than the non-mutated gene.

Example: xx* is not more dominant than xx. They have the same level of dominance.

And lastly, mutations only “sit” or are carried on the second allele.

GENOTYPES

Listed in order of dominance. I tried my hardest to give every gene set an homozygous dominant, heterozygous, and homozygous recessive but it didn’t work out 100% perfect.

BB - dark blue (homozygous dominant) BB* - dark blue iris & pupil (mutated homozygous) Bb - turquoise (heterozygous) bb - light blue (homozygous recessive) YY - gold (homozygous dominant) YY* - dull mustard (mutated homozygous dominant) Yy - yellow (heterozygous) yy - light yellow (homozygous recessive) yy* - pale yellow w/ glassy pupils (mutated homozygous recessive) PP - purple (homozygous dominant) PP* - dark purple (mutated homozygous dominant) Pp - light purple (heterozygous) pp - powder purple (homozygous recessive) GG - dark gray (homozygous dominant) Gg - gray (heterozygous) Gg* - brown (mutated heterozygous) NN - dark pink (homozygous dominant) Nn - dark pink w/ blueish irises RR - red (homozygous dominant) Rr - red (heterozygous) HH - hazel (homozygous dominant) rr* - pink iris & pupils (mutated homozygous recessive) nn* - pink iris & pupils (mutated homozygous recessive) albinism - the 3rd & final way to get the pink eyes. albinism overrides other eye color genes.

PHENOTYPES (IMAGES)

[nintendoteuthis]

Hello! This interesting post appeared on my dash about inkling eye masks - apparently they don't have the same texture as the rest of the skin? I am curious if you have seen it, and whether you might have any thoughts about why/how that part of the face is so different materially. Is it even skin?

Here is the post in question: https://depressedandasian.tumblr.com/post/702385167681093632/

Fascinating.

It's also present on the eye masks in squid form - and I think how it appears here clues us in to what it is:

It looks like toughened, leathery skin to me. Doesn't look like scales or anything, since there aren't distinct "nodules". It doesn't have the striated texture of keratin, chitin, or shell either. It bears some resemblance the bare face skin on some birds:

If I had to guess, the eye masks basically have a higher concentration of chitin than normal, making it tougher but not entirely rigid (it's still where the eyelids are coming from, after all). It'd feel drier, rougher, and more leathery than the skin on the rest of the body. This probably eyed to protect the eyes both from damage and from too much light (that's why the masks are black). The connection between the eye masks evolved only in Inklings, and serves as a species-level difference between them and Octolings.

For the record the eye masks in the game models are solid black, but the shading can make it look leathery as well

[squidbiology]

Y'know I was reading through this blog, when I saw the text on Octolings and their whole being adopted by inklings thing. And it got me thinking! As seen in real life scenarios, humans can and will be rarely raised by creatures that do not align with their species whatsoever! Like humans being raised by wolves, goats, feral cats and dogs, etc. So I was wondering if you had anything relating to inklings or octolings potentially being taken in by another creature? Like salmonoids. How would it affect their behavior and such? What drives the creatures like salmonoids to take in the unfamiliar creatures in the first place??

It's certainly possible, but very rare. Inkling larvae are very precocial, and are usually seen as food by feral carnivorous species, and ignored by others.

Humans and wolves/goats/dogs are all mammals, and it's easy to see their young as similar to your own (IE, a dog could see a human child as similar to them- same limb format, hair and skin, face, etc).

Inkfish larvae are... very different from any non-sapient species. The only feral cephalopods are fully aquatic, and wouldn't raise a baby inkling, as it would die in water. Things like birds, reptiles, etc wouldn't see a baby inkfish as similar to their own young enough to raise it.

However, cross-species rearing is common- but usually among other sapient species. Inkfish orphans are commonly (legally) adopted by families of sharks, jellies, etc.

I would like to point out that salmonids are also a sapient species, and not an animal, like cats or dogs. They have their own language, culture, and intelligence. An inkfish raised by salmonids might have some odd mannerisms- but so are Inkfish raised by rays or other fishes.

Back in the domes, there were actually a few octoling-salmonid relationships, according to Donnie. Though they weren't common.

If they decided to raise an Inkfish, it would most likely because they're intelligent enough to realize it's a sapient child, just like how an inkling might see a young sharkfolk.

[sunsetcorvid]

Can i steal some silly headcannons about inklings/octolings, hell mayhaps even inktolings?.. for the soul and totally not to steal and implant in my own silly bastards 👁

I don't think I have much different from in game, though I do follow real life biology on them.

So, starting, Inktolings are biologically impossible, unfortunately. Squid and Octopus are incompatible and thus cannot have children together. So, sorry if you got your hopes up for Inktolings on this blog. I'm not stoppin' y'all from goin' crazy with it though! It's fiction, make as many Inktoling OCs as you want!

Depending on the Octopus species, Octolings have venom. This can range from Barely Harmful to You Will Probably Die If Injected With A Certain Amount. Eight herself is literally the highest on that list, being a Blue-Ringed Octopus, which is one the most venomous species in the ocean. In relation to this, the blue rings that appear on the species also appear in Eight! Makes it easy to tell if she's mad or scared.

In Inklings, they will very much resemble their species in bipedal form. An example being Four, who is a Clubhook Squid! Meaning he's got hooks on his tentacles. The same is seen in Neo, as well, with her being a Magister Armhook Squid. This doesn't just affect tentacles, but physical features as well! Three's ears are smaller and more rounded than a normal Inkling due to being a Hawaiian Bobtail Squid (Which, fun fact, they are more closely related to Cuttlefish than Squid!), Four's ears are much sharper than an average Inkling as well, as Clubhooks have a sharp frame. Marie is a Firefly Squid, so if you've ever noticed in my art her freckles are green and they glow! Bioluminescence babey! Species may also affect their height as well, though not as much as the other stuff. This is why Three is so short compared to everyone else in the Splatoon. (Bobtails are a very small species.) ((The stuff here also apply to Octolings as well!))

Unfortunately, I think this is all I have, but I hope it's interesting!

Here are what some of species I mentioned look like:

[aeriona]

HI HELLO! Welcome to my completely unnecessarily detailed analysis on how I think Inkfish languages could work! + with art! yay! This is all pretty rough and not fully fleshed out (I don't have the time or patience for that lmao). THIS IS A LONG POST.

Okay, so there's dozens of languages spoken by cephalopods in the Mollusc Era but the main two I'll talk about are Inkling (or Inklish) and Octarian, spoken mostly by Inklings and Octolings respectively. 

In cephalopods, speech is formed using the syrinx and larynx, two fancy vocal organs that most other species don't have together. The larynx makes sounds using the radula (tongue) and vocal folds in the throat, it's clear and pretty easy to understand as the sound itself resembles human speech, albeit warbled. The syrinx makes noise by vibrating air at the base of the trachea, it's often trickier to follow as it can sound more like droning background noise than words sometimes.

An inkfish can use both of them at once, resulting in an EXTREMELY complicated language system where words can be made up of multiple layered syllables, and several words and sentences can even be said at the same time.

As you can probably imagine, all of this is LITERAL HELL to learn for species who don’t have both a syrinx and a larynx (so basically anyone who isn't a cephalopod). But fear not! There are many simple and more inclusive alternatives, dialects and other cool stuff like sign language and instant TTS technology for people who physically can't pronounce Inkling/Octarian or even vocalise at all (eg. jellyfish).

Both main Inkfish languages can be broken down into laryngeal words (made with the larynx), syringeal/drone words (made with the syrinx) or a combination of both, called dual-toned/layered words.

Keep in mind that both word-types can be spoken at the same time. Layering can be used to add additional connotations to a word, or to even make a new one entirely. For example, the laryngeal noun ‘bird’ combined with the syringeal noun ‘metal’ spoken together will create the layered Inkling word ‘aeroplane’, like a compound word in English.

Dual-toned stuff is more common in Inkling than in Octarian, as the language is older and has more loanwords. Inklish's dependence on the larynx gives it a higher-pitched, clearer sound whereas  Octarian's more monotone syrinx-based structure results in a deep, almost guttural sound.

Both cephalopod languages are heavy on tone and pronunciation, resulting in a plenty of accent indicators in written scripts. I used the in-game fonts for the art but if I were to rework it, each letter would probably be more complicated than traditional Mandarin on steroids. So hell on earth, basically.

On a side note, all of these language features open possibilities for some very cool poetry and literature. An inkfish author could write a poem with two lines of thought occurring at once, or a book with vivid emotional undertones written inside the prose. Pretty cool.

OKAY that's all I have to say thank you for reading! Hopefully this makes sense, feel free to send asks or whatever if it's confusing and I'll do my best to explain it better!

[moonpool-system]

I'm really curious to see what's most popular, at least on Tumblr ^^

[virtual-minotaur]

grahhh some spec bio things

[rassicas]

Hi!! I was thinking, what's your opinion about inktolings? Like I'm 99% sure they'll never be properly canon (due to various reasons including biology), but I wondered if you had any specific thoughts or headcanons about them. I'd love to know :')

in general, personally not a fan of the concept of hybrids in the splatoon world. if it were possible for stable hybrids to happen in a society comprised of so many species that have been intermingling for generations, i dont think we'd see the level of speciation that we do. it makes for messy worldbuilding.

inklings and octolings have had peaceful relations with each other for millennia and with how similar they look, i have zero doubt that some have tried for kids. but biologically speaking squids and octopuses as distant as cats and dogs (maybe even more distant than that, at least cats and dogs share a taxonomic order, squids and octopuses only share a class). the only way id imagine an inktoling to exist would be nothing short of a miracle, and would be sterile, likely with some kind of health issues. the sapient herrings in splatoon can produce hundreds of children and this likely applies at least to other species of fish too. for couples of different species who want children, i think there would be no shortage of children to adopt.

[rassicas]

ive heard the theory of the inkling eye mask being like sun protection quite a bit over the years, I think its both! I just think the changes in texture and the repeated cases of “ink gushing from eyes” is too weird to ignore. the out of universe reason for the eye masks has been explained: --I think a main point of the Inklings is the black area around their eyes. Did you have this design in mind from the beginning? It reminds me of something like Bloopers from the "Mario" series. Inoue: It's not like that because of Bloopers. It was inspired by the black makeup that punk rock musicians wear around their eyes. --So it doesn't have much to do with them being squids (laughs). Inoue: I thought that a bit of a rough attitude, similar to a just-debuted rock singer, fit this game. This is how that mood turned into an image. Nogami: People have their own opinions about the design, whether it's cute or creepy, but I think the worst thing that can happen is that people are not interested. Even if people don't like something, it is possible that something will trigger a reversal of that opinion, so I try to create designs with hooks, rather than bland designs, so that people will be interested.

OK look at the inkling eye mask. I thought they were like a thin singular black line, but on closer inspection they have this crinkly almost cracked looking texture. I'm imagine it feeling very dry and almost rough.