Sea Canary
Sea Canaries are a species of whale native to the cold waters of the White Sea and the Northwestern ocean, many moving into the river estuaries of the Inner Sea and Western Blessed Isle during the coldest winter months. They are small whales, reaching lengths of up to 18ft, with bulbous heads and coloration ranging from white through ivory to yellow as the year goes on… the whales ‘shed’ their skin when they move to warmer waters by rubbing it off against the rocks of the ocean floor. Their bodies are insulated by large amounts of blubber to keep them warm against the cold of the North, and this blubber provides oil and fat for all manner of applications, making the hunt for sea canaries important to many cultures bordering their range, including packs of Pelagiothorpes.
The bulge in the head of a sea canary comes from a large fatty mass of tissue which can be changed in shape to assist the whale in echolocation and vocalizing. Indeed, sea canaries are amongst the most vocal of whales, gaining their name not from their colour but from their frequent songs, considered by some to be the ‘birdsong of the sea’. Some Water-aspected Dragonblooded have reported that sea canaries can, with time and close contact, begin to mimic the sounds of Creation’s languages.
Sea canaries are slow swimmers, and though capable of remaining underwater for long periods they do not usually make deep dives, instead preferring warmer waters near the surface or in river estuaries, going into open oceans only for giving birth to their calves. Some northern peoples speak that this is because the sea canaries wish to remain close to the light of the Unconquered Sun, and those who are of yellow colour have been blessed by the Most High for their devotion.
The whales feed on all manner of fish and shellfish, travelling in loose pods of twenty-five whales. Numerous pods will gather at particular river estuaries when fish are plentiful, the combined numbers reaching well into the thousands.
Sea canaries face predation by a number of other creatures. While they are too large for most sharks, and outside the favoured range of the in addition to humans and Pelagiothorpes, large sea predators pose a grave danger, particularly the Orcas who can operate in the shallower Northern waters the sea canaries favour. Sea canaries have been seen to use their superior sense of hearing and echolocation to detect approaching predators, allowing them to withdraw. Their white coloration also allows them to camouflage themselves against the bottoms of passing ice flows, which they can follow to make their escape from danger.
