TF2-nimals Article I: Pyrosharks

A full guide on the main types of Pyrosharks and their characteristics. This is a revised, edited, and simplified version of th article from Lazy Purple's wiki.

Introduction

]The Pyroshark (Pyrosharkus aquaticus) is a rare but beautiful species of the Badlands. It is known for its ability to completely annihilate most things unfortunate enough to cross its path. They can thrive in almost any map, but unfortunately they are near extinction. This article will cover the many species of pyrosharks, as well as their attack methods, their diet, and other things.

Method of Attack

The Pyroshark’s main attack method is a high-voltage shock of electricity. The Pyroshark has an extremely long series of battery cells lining its sides and pectoral fins. The surface of the fins contain a sort of pad that stores a severe jolt that has been measured to be about 100,000 volts. When hunting, the Pyroshark stores its electric jolt until it gets close to its target, usually a stray swimmer that gets too close. When the Pyroshark reaches its victim, it swats it with its fins. The pressure from the strike releases the shock and electrocutes the prey, stunning it, if not killing it. After a few jolts, the Pyroshark grabs its meal and enjoys it in peace, eating its fill. Some believe this unusual method of attack arose when competition became more frequent. This advantage gave the Pyroshark an edge, letting it kill more types of prey than its ancestors.

Habitats

While it is possible to find a Pyroshark on almost any map, they are most frequently found in the following maps:
• Sawmill
• 2Fort
• Badlands
• Bigrock
• Ravine
• Well
• Lakeside
• Watchtower
• Suijin

Diet

While it is true that most Pyrosharks are calm and friendly, they still have to feed in order to survive. They are simple creatures, so their diet isn’t too complicated. Simply put, if they are hungry, they will feed on almost anything that is within reach. This includes Spycrabs, F2Ps, P2Ps, Sollybirds, Hoovygators, and Spysharks.

The Alpha Pyroshark

Discovered by Dr. Marxman, this subspecies of Pyroshark is much larger than the average one, with an attachment on its head baring symbols of the game chess. When it obtains 6 kills, it will boast the rank of king. Every Pyroshark nest is run by one of these sharks, as they are the ones that do the hunting for their infants. Their mates sometimes battle for dominance and favoritism of the Alpha, and its mates do not accompany it while it hunts. Unlike Medisheep, the rank of Alpha Pyroshark is not earned by fighting. It is simply leader of the nest by default. When they encounter other Alphas, they make some communication with them, as they have no reason to kill other Alphas. They never practice cannibalism, and have even been seen to sacrifice themselves for their nest. There is only one of these creatures per nest, making them even more endangered. They are all male, and can have multiple mates, yet only one nest. It was thought that back in ancient times, they could hold millions in their nests. The highest number of sharks in a nest seen is 7000. It provides for its nest and possesses a set of kills unlike any other. Expect to see them in massive bodies of water. These creatures are protected by a team of Snipigs near their nests, in case of land attacks. These sharks seem to understand the Snipigs' cause, and will not harm them. The infant sharks almost never get to see the Alphas, due to their hunting. At the time of the hatching of the sharks, the Alpha will guard the nest, having already stocked up on food for its infants. If the waters are not plentiful, it will be able to survive on land for only a day before drowning to go hunt food. They are a force to be reckoned with and to be avoided at all costs. If you see one, simply find another route to your destination. They are highly endangered, so follow basic precautions. Recently, an Alpha Pyroshark was seen starting a nest of its own, with 5 infants, in Clocktown. Due to the fact there was a large moon looming over the city, its nest and it were in serious danger. It brought them underground, where they survived the massive collision. Many of the mercenaries residing in the town were killed, but some of the mercenaries that sought out to protect the sharks were allowed to join them in the underground cave-like sewers of Clocktown. The Alpha Pyroshark's intelligence is debatable, but it is proven to be over average when a sword wielding mercenary charged at them and the Alpha easily took him out. When the mercenary dropped his weapon upon death, the Alpha looked at his infants, told them to follow him, and they examined the corpse. It was then when the shark started saying "Sword" repeatedly. They do have basic knowledge of their predators and prey, which must help them in their hunting.

The Bell Pyroshark

This species of Pyroshark is extremely aggressive and will attack anything, even Spycrabs. They are very territorial and try to find other groups of Pyrosharks to join. It is extremely rare to see an entire pack consist of Dead Bell Pyrosharks. Dead Bell Pyrosharks are not afraid to die keeping their territory safe from attackers. During mating season Dead Bell Pyrosharks will make sure that the place they are nesting in is ready for their mate before creating offspring. During this time when their mate is pregnant they will venture further outside of their nest than normal to find food, as their mate can no longer hunt. When a Dead Bell Pyroshark reaches adulthood it is evicted from the nest and must find a new place to nest, and mate. While they are searching for a new nesting area they will often seek refuge from Jellyneers.

The Clown Pyroshark

Discovered by Pootis-Man, this subspecies of Pyroshark is smaller than the common Pyroshark, but possibly more dangerous. The Clown Pyroshark has bright markings around its face, a bright red nose, and hair-like extensions on its head, making it look like a sort of creepy clown, hence the name. The Clown is believed to attack other Pyrosharks if food is scarce, but lack of physical evidence makes this theory unlikely. Another thing that makes the Clown unique is its tendency to crawl onto land in an attempt to catch prey. However, it never stays out of water for long. Like all other Pyrosharks, it must get in water to stay hydrated.

The Sewer Pyroshark

Sewer Pyrosharks are the least known cousins of infamous Pyrosharks. They are combination of shark and reptilian, which makes them always appear with longer jaws and are better suited for travelling on land. They attack the same way like normal Pyrosharks, though their attacks are more dangerous due to their strength. They are larger, stronger and usually very friendly, using their method of eating fire energy (their only food) to put out those on fire. As they are very rare, they are hard to spot and thanks to great lack of males in this species and hunting, they are very near to complete extinction. In way of reproduction, they have to rely on their male cousins, which still isn't the most reliable way as the resulting baby could be a normal Pyroshark. It was believed that Sewer Pyros were supposed to be protectors of Pyroshark species due to their strength, but it seems it's only another subspecies that just develop a lot differently.

The Skull Pyroshark

The Skull Pyroshark was believed to be a relic of old ages until they were found incubating in multiple ponds. The reason for their absence is because of the extinction of all others, so they had to incubate. Skull Pyrosharks are usually found in small packs or medium-sized tribes, they all have an instinctive set of rules which may vary over different tribes. A few Skull Pyrosharks have already exited their Chrysalises and they all have shown that they have quite a deadly set of skills, these creatures has been under close scanning. It seems that they can adapt to their environment quite quickly, a side note to this is that they are gifted with a unique trait of assimilation and they can invent weapons very well. Although most are still incubating, it is recommended to stay away and do no harm to them as they will attack when they believe they are in grave danger. Skull Pyrosharks have a skill set of the following: they can stay on land, sustain a higher jump when needed, at the cost of health or ammo, They also resemble the missing link from Pyro-Dragon to Pyroshark, skull sizes and color vary, Most Skull Sharks have horns coming out of their skull, They are able to breath fire for a short amount of time and Skull Pyrosharks wear any other trinkets, probably bones or attractive things, to attract mates and to show the world that they are tough, however not all of them are, they can also assimilate traits of others after eating a certain number of that one species.

The Lightbulb Pyroshark

Lightbulb Pyrosharks are a rare species of Pyroshark, in which the entire head is that of a large, luminescent lightbulb. They are known for swimming in the deepest part of the TF2 Oceans, but have also been spotted coming to land in search of food. The light produced from their heads help them hunt prey deep underwater, also to lure in prey, and distinguish them from the rest of the breeds. Lightbulb Pyrosharks are also known for being docile, unless provoked otherwise. They will hunt small fish, Spycrabs, Scewts, and occasionally humans if angered. Due to the extremely docile nature of this subspecies of Pyroshark, if faced with another Pyroshark, it will usually leave its pool of water in search of another or simply move to the other side of the pool. The Lightbulb Pyroshark is an endangered species, due to hunters taking advantage of its luminescence and using it for their own personal needs. If faced with one of these fascinating creatures, think twice before shooting it!

The Treasure Pyroshark

The Treasure Pyroshark is a rare species of Pyroshark that was discovered in Skyloft. It travels on its own with a treasure chest it finds from ship wrecks. They are often hunted for the contents of said chest. It is the weakest of the entire Pyroshark species, along with being the most cowardly. The poor Pyroshark often runs from other beings and only will kill those in its path to safety. The have a defense mechanism as they love to collect skulls, the bigger ones it puts on its head while the others it straps to its chest. It is noted that some TF2nimals are menaced by the skulls and ultimately will avoid said creature. Unlike other Pyrosharks, the treasure shark will often carry a flintlock or blunderbuss pistol that it found, mainly because of the shape. It uses this not to inflict damage but to set fire to multiple predators at once to distract them. New note: Lightbulb Treasure Pyrosharks have been discovered in Goldenrod, they may be tied with the Megalopyroshark for the rank of rarest TF2-nimal.

The Megapyroshark

Megalopyrosharks are a critically endangered ancient cousin of the Pyroshark. They are about 2 times bigger than typical Pyrosharks and have horns protruding out of their eye sockets. They attack in the same manner as Pyrosharks and are capable of spitting out fluids heated to deadly temperatures. They are also capable of using the energy acquired from their food to quickly regenerate and rejuvinate themselves. Megalopyrosharks are extremely hostile, willing to attack any creature and even resorting to attacking their own kind in order to eat them. The Megalopyroshark is psychologically incapable of reproduction because of the disprovening of the Theory of Phlogiston and the careful psychological conditioning of Megalopyrosharks by the ancient Greeks because "theireth reproductioneth useth Phlogiston, thereforeth it is not realeth enough!" (Quote taken from journal of silly ancient Greece man, Sosupplycrates.) Because of this, Megalopyrosharks are near extinction with less than a hundred of their species remaining, unable to reproduce and highly aggressive to each other. This monstrous species is, unfortunately, predicted to become fully extinct within the next few years as all attempts to force two Megalopyrosharks to reproduce have been unsuccessful and have resulted in one of them killing the other. There is simply no hope left for these wonderful sea giants.

In the End...

it doesn't really matter
Thanks for reading. This was part one of three, so stay tuned for more Pyroshark articles.

Thanks!
-Shark

[Malc (they/them)]

i think mine is an unknown spices

[Final Badguy]

that means he made a typo and never paid attention to it.

[Blue ;3]

He alternated between Megapyroshark and Megalopyroshark

[moth woman]

Lel. Dang Steam.

[charky]

I made this over a year ago. I don't even know why it was featured just now.

[moth woman]

So what's the next one gonna be about? Spycrabs and their many cousins? Such as the BoxCrab

[Final Badguy]

uh no, festive wing, the actual shark species that existed in ancient times is called megalodon.
no relation to undertrash or anything.

[Blue ;3]

megaLOpyrosharks
undertale habits

[Tallahasse]

I found a pyro shark while adventuring in hyrule, in zora's lake I found a pyro shark that could actually camoflauge, they seem to only do it if threatened as i saw about 40 of them before jumping in for a swim, which then they all camoflauged, before their dissapearence they seem to wear the cranial charcharodon, Cauterizer's caudal appendange, and the charred chainmail. I spent a few days at that lake trying various methods to lure a pyroshark close without it camoflauging and the only thing that truely lured one was by having a steak at the beach, even then the pyroshark did it rather quickly as if it knows i was watching them.

[Calor]

So good