#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 A lot of the information in there is also outdated and poorly written, so good luck with that.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.

[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)

[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:

[moonpool-system]

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

[virtual-minotaur]

grahhh some spec bio things

[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.

[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!

[squid-bean]

Is there a particular reason why people's art of more "realistic" (as realistic as anything in Splatoon can be anyway) inkfish tend to have claws? Some octolings have pretty sharp looking fingers but claws in that sense seems more like an amniote (mammals, dinosaurs etc) trait. I'm just curious

[worldsewage]

what's the home run au?? pretty please infodump!! /genpos /nf

The HOMERUN au is what I want to call a Salmonid and Inkling swap au, but eventually became so convoluted it’s now it’s own separate thing.

I’m glad this ask exists because I will be using it as a pseudo pinned… until I get that… figured out… ⛩️ thank you! I’ll be splitting the main ideas into parts, (and chances are any unanswered questions will be answered later! I want to explore this au in little lore tidbits, so please be patient with me! But don’t be afraid to ask!)

Idol / Agent lore will be explained in mini comics and posts… :] but as for what the Homerun au actually is…?

I’ll explain everything under the cut!

THE GREAT TURF WAR:

During the Great Turf War— inklings and octolings were at a horrible stand still, resources and morale is low due to the two warring species exhausting themselves. The waterline rises high (WAY higher then canon) wiping out the lands they’re fighting for and reducing the habitable lands into waterlogged territories that are too dangerous and flood-prone for either species to survive… the war ended with Salmonids on the rise, dominating the lands, and nearly wiping out both species thanks to the ocean and the brute strength and resources they had.

Because of this inkling territory is very small— but still succeeded in claiming land, unlike the Octarian, which were forced to retreat to the wastelands— the wastelands are devoid of life, but worse, flooded and horribly weathered.

Relationships between the warring species goes as this: Politically, all of the species are enemies, but at this current state, have no real reasons to continue fighting.

Salmonoids are trying to “mend the relations between Cephalopods and Salmonids”— at least that’s what they’re saying. They make efforts such as propaganda pieces, but their biology(see “anatomy” column) Is far too different from cephalopods to properly live together. They mostly push this effort towards Inklings— half because they are the species that utterly despises them, and the other half as a power play. A few Salmonid Company’s that control the local politics have a few ideas they want to use to control inklings, but it’s no use if they’re not allies.

Octarians still see inklings as the species that drove them out, despite salmonids being the unlikely winner of the war, Inklings are the ones that claimed the only slightly habitable lands, so they are the adversary.

Octarians are still an ally to the salmonids, their industrial mega cities are often seen as “barbaric” or “frightening” to most species, but the Octarian see them as war-strong allies who they desperately need to learn off of. Octarian culture has vastly evolved to accommodate Salmonids— this has changed most Salmonid’s(within the public) understanding of inkling/octoling biology for the better. Having survived off their trade / resources, every Octarian issue becomes a Salmonid issue, and vice versa, these two groups are closely intertwined.

Inklings are enemies with the Salmonids, but due to their loss in the war they were forced to truce— Inklings are the only species that do salmon runs, so they see Salmons at their most aggressive, and in turn are taught to view them as monsters, despite the species affinity towards politics, business, and other relations they’ve made public— they only see them as language-less inkling-murdering monsters. Because of their hatred of salmonids— they yearn to rekindle the relationship with Octarians.

It’s a real “be my ally” love triangle. But truly, Octarians and Salmonids are BUDDIES!

THE MAP

Inklings are doing better, they still construct Inkopolis in this au. Inkopolis is prone to flooding, but it’s still plenty safer and operates much like it does in canon (with the same stores and such!). The city is now equipped with many functions that keep it’s citizens safe from flooding. Flooding is less common in the plaza as opposed to the outskirts of the city. Inkopolis is a staple location, proof of survival and glory, the place every kid said they wanted to move to when they got older.

The Octo-Canyon + Domes still exist here, but the surrounding area is nearly all water, so resources are scarce and its difficult for them to survive on their own. They thrive on trade, and what can only be described as “for-hire agent work” for salmonoids and other wasteland neighboring species. Their technology was forced to rapidly advance to accommodate for this.

The area right to Inkopolis, where Calimari County would lie, are sandy (sort of beach-swamp esque) farm lands. The towns are rural distant areas, perpetually flooded, sort of resembling low tidepools, it’s pretty gorgeous lands . They primarily farm seaweed here, as well as cultivating other sea animals and rice grain.

The area above New Inkadia— in the Wastelands— is similar, farm lands and small villages, but to note: more Salmonids are here, and the inklings here speak Salsegal (the language salmonids speak) and here Salmonids and Cephalopods engage in this reverse salmon run.

The Wasteland inklings cultivate and raise Zapfish, most are young and unable to power full cities, and so Cephalopods in this zone have (as a result of water damage affecting HOW they retain ink) developed a new type of ink that is able to act as an electrical current— these types of inklings/octolings are known as KRAKENS, and Salmonids occasionally enter these areas and capture this electric ink technology since it’s on their turf, and they can’t use their eggs out of respect, Zapfish are in low supply, and in turn, Inklings collect power eggs.

AC TOKYO is a city built on the idea of mending the relationships and creating a society where all species can thrive! And oddly enough, the city and decor is described as historic… due to all of the designs looking very… human. The reason for this is unknown. (Wink.) (DEEPSEA METRO rests underneath it.)

NEW INKADIA is where splatoon 3’s locations lie! Though under a different name, and a very different appearance, and ALTERNA is a secret project that has created an entirely new society that consists of both Cephalopods and Salmonids… at the expense of changing them.

Alterna is where DEEPCUT appear.

ANATOMY

How salmonids and inklings function is plenty different from canon

Inkling’s skin is incredibly paper-thin fragile, but extremely reliable, it is made up of trillions of individual parts that collapse into a thin membrane that essentially splits all of the insides into even tinier parts when coming into contact with a certain chemical signal that triggers the “transformation reaction”, allowing their skin to collapse into Ink Puddles, and as a result allowing it to reform into the Swim Form. So essentially, when Inklings are in the “puddle form”, they are a super thin nearly invisible sac carrying all of their super small broken apart organs, and reforming is just these broken apart cells very quickly attaching back together to either shape into Kid or Squid.

When a cephalopod gets “splatted”— all that’s happening is that there’s either too much stress, or too many injuries, or there’s a drastic shift in the amount of ink the subject is currently carrying, causing them to Self Destruct, as inklings are safer when the cells are broken apart, it’s harder to damage larger parts of the inkling IF they are broken into tiny parts that cant be broken apart any further.

“RESPAWNERS” aren’t actually “a place for the ghosts of inklings to land to revive”— this is a myth, and plenty easier to explain.

Respawners are attached onto the ground in inky turf grounds, and they cycle through ink at an extremely fast rate. Most turf battles have a very small layer of water or ink on the ground to allow respawner to filter ink— in doing this, the respawner are drinking in a shit tone of ink in order to suck up inkling puddles that carry near invisible flesh sacs thanks to Inkling’s weird skin membrane. And in the respawner, they’re refreshed with new ink and injected with a chemical that shakes them awake, quickly waking up a splatted inkling inside the respawner.

During Salmon Runs, the sight of Inklings who are missing limbs on the battlefield returning the next day to attend a shift with no visible injuries isn’t uncommon. As long as the cells still exist within the membrane, they can be rapidly rebuilt and regenerate.

But, despite all of this, Inkling skin is incredibly weak to water, this membrane that can carry collapsed organs, severed limbs, and gives the signal that allows inklings to transform— can melt and collapse and can permanently damage if coming into contact with too much water. Water against this skin-membrane is similar to water on a tissue, melting into it, and splatting the inkling— but because there is now a tear in the membrane— it affects how the inkling is able to heal, how quickly the inkling can recover, how much ink the inkling can now retain, or if it’s possible to transform after the injury. Membrane Water-Damage scars can vary, but they are all regarded as dangerous if left untreated too long. Since small holes can be treated and taught to heal over, but left in water, can cause these holes to grow too large for the membrane to function as intended.

In fact, even overly HUMID environments can wear on inkling skin overtime; which is a problem for cephalopods and salmonid relations.

Salmonids have gills, but are amphibious, and in the adult (not spawning, spawning Salmons have very different anatomy, I will go into salmonid life cycles below) stage of their growth, they require air to thrive. Hence, needing land, but because they have gills, they require humid environments or close by water in order to keep the gills moist. Or else they could dehydrate and suffocate.

TLDR: inklings+octolings need dry environments so they don’t die from overexposure to humidity/water, Salmonids need wet humid environments so they don’t suffocate to the lack of water.

SALMON RUNS, and the LIFE CYCLE:

During salmon runs, you collect eggs, and in the warehouse, fertile eggs are seperated from infertile eggs, and are shipped back to Salmonid cities.

In salmonid cities, the eggs are sorted, genetically tested, and are given a name— the reason why salmonids have such long names is because the eggs are named by the title of the clans of their origin, and the families then extend the titles via new names or traits.

Having children isn’t a decision that can be made on a whim, since it requires traveling to a salmon run grounds in a race to these lands that allow both parents to officially breed in what’s known as a “HOMERUN,” but unlike IRL salmon, the need to return home is NOT a requirement or a hormonal change, but rather a decision, and the transformation into spawning-forms is a result of the journey.

Most parents have hundreds of eggs, and hundreds of children, but most of the time— in salmonid culture, only those who are considered “high status” are selected to “bring glory to the clan name” and go on these homeruns, most common folk don’t.

Salmonids are in a way socially (a tad culturally) aromantic, in a way, since they don’t have any desire to find a special someone never sprung into existence, especially since relationships initially begin as a concept due to the act of having children, but to salmons, it is viewed as a business decision. So romance is nearly non existent. (Again, socially, not emotionally, but the concept is still very much foreign.)

All salmonids are orphans in some way or another due to the parents dying in the Homerun (it’s extremely rare for a parent to return, if they do, it’s most likely they won’t survive the transformation back into a non-spawning form— which is why those who do survive usually remain in homerun grounds.)

The offspring are given back to the clans of parents of the children, not as eggs, they leave them to develop and once they become “SMALL FRY” they are given to the families.

THE EGG- power eggs, power houses, even infertile eggs are still high wattage batteries.

ALEVINS- you will most likely never see these few, in the wild, they grow up in the water and feed off the power egg.

FRY- they begin to grow lungs and muscle, they start to come onto land and use their fins as hands, if only slightly. They still are stronger swimmers than they are walkers. This is the stage in which they begin to swim home, they aren’t very good learners due to this form expending all energy in strength in order to travel and survive.

AWKWARD TADPOLE PHASE! - their fins grow into hands, and they slowly learn to walk. You see this stage at around four or five years old. This is considered the most important time in thier lives, because as FRY, they were running on instinct more than anything, so this is the time when their brains truly start to develop. Their head fins sort of fray, splitting into a growing head fin and a dorsal fin.

SMOLT- The phase between Tadpole and Nearly fully fledged salmon, their hands begin to fully form, they have more canine teeth that begin to grow in as teenagers. Fingers are webbed! The dorsal fin grows in. Most teenagers are still a tad hunched, but otherwise have no issues standing upright.

MATURE SALMON- Dorsal fin is fully developed, and they stand without a hunch.

In order to have offspring, they HOMERUN, and doing this transforms them back into waterborne species to accommodate for the vast journey. Their arms turn into fins, this change is far too jarring and aggressive for the species to live long after this.

SALMON RUNS ONLY EXIST BECAUSE INKLINGS HAVE DISTURBED THE NATURAL PATH THAT SALMONIDS NEED TO TAKE IN ORDER TO HAVE OFFSPRING. They intend to enter the aggressive phase at the river, before reaching the end mid land, but because inklings occupy this land, they’re forced to remain in these aggressive stages.

The slaughter of the spawning season salmonids is not a part of the cycle that salmonids worship so thoroughly. But, Salmonids were designed to die during this phase, and they never grew to be revolted by this idea— but that is not the reason why.

A Grizzco partner company named SENSHINCORP. that specializes in Cephalopod/Salmonid Trade, Safety, and Relations has taken control of the public’s opinion of the neighboring species.

(it’s a persuasive warning shot that makes every species doubt the opinions they feel they should have. It’s the reason why new paths weren’t created for Homerun Salmonids, POWEREGGS are big buck business, and it’s best you don’t pry.)

Okay, final section:

GRIZZCO. (+SENSHINCORP.)

Grizzco functions the same, a company that thrives on exploiting desperate job hunting inklings, and exploiting a culture that relies on the glory of dying.

But, this time, Mr. Grizz remains in contact with Senshin Corp, a salmon operated company that thrives on the tension between salmonids and cephalopods.

Salmo-San owns Senshin Corp, he’s a friend. He only wishes the best.

[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.