Fan Made Dossier - Anomalocaris

[Kraken:1]

Common Name: Anoma
Species: Anomalocaris Trofosyllekton
Period: Cambrian
Temprement: Curious yet skittish

Wild

A wild Anomalocaris is a rare sight to behold. Although this strange primitive creature can grow almost as large as an adult human, it spends most of its time on the sea bed, where much like a modern flat fish it covers itself in sand with only its acute compound eyes visible, and waits for its favourite prey of trilobites to come wandering past. It will then pounce and quite methodically dissect its meal using its surprisingly dexterous feeding arms. If disturbed and forced to flee in open water the Anoma is a rapid swimmer, easily able to out pace anything wishing to make a meal from it with a short burst of speed until it is able to settle down and hide itself once more.

Domesticated

I'm not sure if 'tamed' would really be an appropriate word to convey the interactions between tribes of humans and Anomalocaris. Instead, it seems that an agreement of mutual co-operation has arisen. Wild Anoma's have observed human divers collecting pearls from clams, and harvesting trilobites for chitin, pearls and oil, and so they began appearing at human settlements with these things as gifts for human tribes, and somehow making it clear that they expect a gift of food in return. This has led to a remarkable relationship between advanced peoples and what turns out to be a remarkably intelligent creature for one so primitive. Tribes will often go to great lengths to protect those Anoma's that have chosen to work with them, and in return the Anomas will bring large quantities of valuable materials back to their human friends, including many of the extremely rare black pearls that are highly coveted by ocean dwelling tribes.

Authors Notes

Yes, having an Anomalocaris or two around is a very useful thing indeed. Although these ancient and strange creatures were IRL probably just simple creatures swimming around and eating whatever they can catch, I drew inspiration from modern day mantis shrimps, who for a small crustacean display quite advanced problem solving skills.

I envisage Anoma's to be a passive tame like Ichthy's, although unlike the dolphins who will actively come and seek you out, the Anoma would be quite difficult to locate and prone to skittishness. For this reason it wouldn't take too long to tame and would be found mostly in shallow waters close to shore. Once tamed the Anoma would be too small to ride, but when put on wander (obviously not greatly advised in the ocean) or when set to follow will actively collect pearls in decently large amounts, oil and chitin in very small amounts, and (once they're released) black pearls quite rarely. They'd be pretty useless in combat, although like trilobites I'd imagine them to be fairly hardy, and fast enough swimmers to be able to keep up even with Icthy's when swimming so that you can have them follow and not worry about them being left behind. The downside of this of course would mean you have to keep your eyes on them as they're certain to attract Megas to you. Should you want to hunt them they'd drop meat of course and chitin.

Comments, thoughts and critiques all welcome :)

My other dossiers;

Nychtosaurus - http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/485622866448219708/
Psittacosaurus - http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/485622866442115842/
Arsinoitherium - http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/485622866444503731/
Bunostegos - https://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/485622866446116296/
The Night Terror - https://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/485622866448740534/
Giant Octopus - http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/485622866450447089/

[G_r@nk1n]

So cool! We need this now!