#ok next mer au post is probably going to be checking back up on Dino after his kidnapping

[zestyderg]

More facts about the mer au because why not

Merfolk can breathe in air and in water. Even mers who mimic air-breathing animals like cetaceans, pinnipeds, sea turtles, etc. all can breathe underwater just fine. The main concerns with mers above water are the risk of drying out/death via exposure and larger mers having their bodies collapse under their own weight.

I know I mentioned how quickly mer babies die but I cannot stress enough how vulnerable they are. Pretty much everything in the ocean would like to snack on them. The young of monster mers especially have little defence against predators. They rely on their giant parents to guard them until they grow big enough to be immune to predation. A lot of faster, more agile animals can actually readily pick off baby monster mers before their parents have time to react. It's a big problem, and among any mer, young monster mers have the highest mortality rate out of all merfolk. Joe and ZZ are very lucky (they were not raised by other monster mers though).

On a less depressing note: merfolk can't seem to agree on a single term for their babies. Child? Fry? Pup? Whelp? All of these are correct, actually.

Merfolk are born with tiny, totally functional teeth, unlike humans. They're still quite helpless and will be brought food by adults even when they learn to forage for themselves.

Mers of different types can have kids together. A mer's lower half is determined by the pregnant parent. Their other traits are a mix of both parents, but they will take after their non-pregnant parent more.

Magic is a very rare trait for merfolk to have. Different forms of magic exist and it is genetic to an extent. Any mer can be born with magic but typically if your parents have magic you are far more likely to have magic too.

Mers with multiple rows of teeth are common. If broken off, they can grow back.

Mers are omnivores, but they typically have a heavy preference for either meat or plants. This just correlates with the creatures they mimic. Scatterly is a dewgong mer and he pretty much exclusively eats aquatic plants, especially seagrass.

Regular sea monsters do exist! Krakens and leviathans are the most notable. These creatures and their mer mimics will readily battle and eat each other given the chance.

One particular leviathan, bigger than all the others, is considered legendary amongst all merkind. In a very deep part of the ocean, it is said to lie dormant and only awakens to eat entire ecosystems before returning to its slumber. It's rumored that not even the most monstrous of mers can stop it. It is the most terrible, vile monstrosity in the ocean. It is the Great Devourer, the Scourge of the Sea, the Maw that Forever Hungers, it is Extinction, it is... Guhnash.