Cuddlefish

Template:Class 2 FaunaThe Cuddlefish is a friendly species of fauna that can only be seen by hatching one of the Cuddlefish Eggs hidden in various locations. It takes about 20 minutes to hatch.

Appearance

Hatched Appearance

The Cuddlefish's body is small, grey in color on the dorsal side, with a white bioluminescent coloring on the ventral side, and a white stripe running along the length of its body, from the top of its head to its rear-side. It has a slightly bloated belly and possesses no dorsal or caudal fins, sporting only a stubby pair of pectoral fins. Its body also features many small, wart-like lumps.

The Cuddlefish's head has two slightly bulging, forward facing eyes, along with a wide mouth and two small holes that seem to be nostrils.

At the end of the Cuddlefish's body, there are five tentacles that have the same grey and white body color pattern.

Egg Appearance

The Cuddlefish Egg consists of a round transparent outer membrane with three small bumps on the bottom. A small embryo is visible inside the egg.

The coloring of the egg's outer membrane is primarily light brown with dark brown spots near the bottom. The Cuddlefish embryo inside has a similar patterning to the adult Cuddle Fish, but with a light blue color instead of grey.

When close to hatching the juvenile inside can be seen trying to break out of the egg.

Behavior

The Cuddlefish uses its tentacles to propel itself and mostly swims around darting in circles and letting out various chirping noises, as well as occasionally swimming over to investigate objects that interest it such as small fauna or Fragments.

The Cuddlefish will either follow the player around or stay in one area when told to. The player can tell it to stop/start following them using RMB.

The player can play with it using LMB. It has various play actions, such as high fives, magic tricks, or cuddles, and will display various emotions depending on said action.

After the player has built the Neptune Rocket Cockpit they can "Say Farewell" to Cuddlefish using RMB. It is a one-time animation. It goes as said: the Cuddlefish will wrap a tentacle around the player.

Although it is possible to have many Cuddlefish in a single Alien Containment unit, they will not breed, unlike all other fauna species that can be kept in one.

Data Bank Entry

A small, gray-colored herbivore, the cuddlefish displays high levels of intelligence, curiosity and attachment. Strangely this species has not been encountered in the wild, and the scanned specimen had to be artificially hatched within an alien containment unit. Lifecycle: In the absence of wild specimens little can be known for certain about the cuddlefish's lifecycle. It is possible that environmental conditions have changed, forcing the species to the edge of extinction, and leaving its eggs in permanent stasis. It is also possible the cuddelfish has been genetically altered, or even imported to 4546B from another world.   Behavior: We do know that the cuddlefish is a herbivore which displays highly social behavior in its interspecies interactions. As was observed in earth dolphins before their extinction, this creature seems to understand the concept of other minds, the prime indicator of true sentience, and attempts to communicate with a series of chirps and chirrups.   Interaction: Evidence suggests the cuddlefish is capable of understanding and following simple commands, in addition to assessing the emotional state of individuals around it and responding in kind. Assessment: Emotional connection between living creatures is an essential component of psychological health

Gallery

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  Front view

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  Side view

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  Dorsal view

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  Bioluminescence

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  Further bioluminescence

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  Size compared to the player

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  A Cuddlefish swimming around

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  A Cuddlefish twirling

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  A Cuddlefish Egg

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  Cuddlefish looking at player

|-| Videos=

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  The Cuddlefish high-fiving the player

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  The Cuddlefish being tickled

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  The Cuddlefish eating a treat

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  Magic trick

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  The Cuddlefish being teased and then getting a treat

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  The Cuddlefish being teased and then slapping the treat out of the player's hand

• CuteFish Combo 02
• CuteFish personality anims 02
• CuteFish personality anims 03
• Cute fish magic trick

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  Early Concept Art showing the Cuddlefish behaving like a Crashfish

|-| Other=

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  Cuddlefish model from Sketchfab

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Trivia

• The Cuddlefish's original name was Cute Fish. However, this was only a working name.
• On the Sketchfab page, Cute Fish is spelled "Qute Fish." This is a result of the modeler misspelling it, as English was not their native language.
• The Cuddlefish was originally meant to have the role of the Crashfish, as seen in the Concept Art; however, the developers thought that it was "too cute" and thus created the Crashfish, and made the Cuddlefish a pet.
• Before it was decided that the Cuddlefish would be a pet, it was planned to spawn in the Twisty Bridges.
• For a while during development, the Cuddlefish was going to be a pet only given to Early Access players or those buying the Special Edition. However, this was changed as the developers did not have time to implement the Special Edition. 
• The data bank entry for the Cuddlefish reveals that the dolphins of Earth went extinct in the Subnautica universe.
• It may have been inspired by the porcupinefish because of their similar faces, the spines on their bodies, and how the Cuddlefish puffs up in its concept art.
  • The appearance of the egg may have been inspired by those of the Cuttlefish, evidenced by resemblances of the eggs and fetus.
• A hatched Cuddlefish cannot be used as Bioreactor fuel, although Cuddlefish Eggs can.
  • This also makes it the only hatchable fauna that cannot be used in the Bioreactor.