#ormad tiiiiiime!!

[cryptidcalling]

Fourth Aquarium profile: Ormad (who belongs to @twistytwine)

Document written by: Head of Species Study Horace Stettler

Name: Ormad

Species: Unknown

Age: 49

Height head to tail: 7′

Diet: Crustaceans, muscles, shrimp, salmon

Display consent status: Denied 

Threat level: Minimal (Use caution)

Physical description: Ormad is a very large creature with a lean upper body and thick tail. His upper body is a light grey, with a number of black patches that fade to grey towards his wrists. His torso also has an array of scars, most noticeably a large scar that mirrors one on his back of a similar size and shape. His tail is a deep black with sharp, jagged purple fins. He has many features resembling those of the deep sea angler fish. He has a movable rod extending from his forehead, on the end of which is a purple bio-luminescent bulb. He has long thin teeth, some of which poke out passed his lips. He also has long thin spines coming from his elbows, shoulders, ears, and along his spine. He has large sharp claws on his hands. His hair is short, black, and spiky, with a number of grey strands. His eyes are glassy, and solid purple. 

Personality: Ormad is a highly solitary creature. He does not like to be looked at, preferring to hide in the back corners of his tank. When staff are in the room he often remains perfectly silent, even when directly addressed. However, he has spoken to me a small number of times, and does not speak above a mumble. Our cameras have picked up on gentle humming sounds when he is completely alone. Ormad does not like to be disturbed when he is trying to sleep, and has bared his fangs at multiple staff members when he has deemed them a disturbance. However, he has yet to seriously injure any staff, even when they have entered his tank or touched him. However, he has been known to hiss aggressively and hit, leaving bruises and claw marks in certain cases.

Handling instructions: -Ask for handling consent before attempting any procedures. If he does not cooperate he must be fully sedated before any tests are performed. -Avoid making loud noise near his tank, they startle him and make him act aggressively. -His tank MUST be kept very dark at all times, even in emergency situations. Should an emergency arise where it is necessary to find and collect him very quickly staff must use our facility’s  water-safe night vision goggles. -Feeding staff must make sure he has eaten before leaving the room. -Staff must check twice a week for any damage that could have been done to the temperature and pressure regulators in his tank. -Ormad is NOT to be put on the display floor for any reason. -Cameras watching the top of his tank must be monitored at all times in case of self-inflicted injury 

Species specifics and attributes: It is unknown what species Ormad is exactly. He seems to be some sort of deep sea merman, although when asked he denies this. He does sing on occasion, meaning he could potentially be a siren, but he has yet to sing with a person in the room. Therefore it is unknown if his singing has any hypnotic affects. 

Reason for permanent stay: Ormad has been proven to attempt significant harm to himself, and therefore cannot be trusted to live on his own without supervision. He has attempted to starve himself multiple times, and once early on had to be administered a feeding tube for a period of  9 days until he agreed to eat. He has purposefully swam into waters that cannot support him, as they are too near to the surface. This behavior has been seen multiple times, therefore ruling out confused or lost wandering. This has yet to be proven, but it is suspected that a number of his scars are from self inflicted wounds. It is believed he suffers from a number of mental health issues, but we have not yet been able to convince a psychologist to come in to talk with him or confirm any of our suspicions. 

Initial capture: We received numerous reports of a large deep sea creature swimming near the surface of the ocean, about .76 miles from a coral reef. A team, including field medics Persephone Diggs, Dakota Schultz, and Ragan Odom, was sent out to capture him and relocate him to deeper waters. However, he was injured and malnourished upon discovery. He was brought into our facility to be treated. He had reached a healthy BMI after 12 days, and was released into deep sea waters.

Second capture: 3 months after Ormad’s release he was once again spotted in waters far too close to the surface for his health. Once again he was in very poor health, with additional scars and returned malnourishment. He was brought back to our facility and placed in a permanent tank, which has been set up to imitate deep sea waters.