<span class="mu-i">“What little physiology Sea-Shades have is largely indeterminate, however, there is enough there that is discrete enough for naturalists to make sense of. In spite of common misconceptions, these beasts do in fact have brains, which are always located exactly at the center of their mass. They are capable of creating pseudopodia seemingly at will, to function as fists, mouths, and fundamentals. Additionally, they have eyes and teeth, and while is believed that they are born with a fixed number of both, usually anywhere from one to three dozen eyes and a few hundred teeth, they seen to be able to distribute them throughout themselves as they please.

Beyond that, they have nerves, suspended throughout their gelatinous, glowing bodies. Unlike other Ichor-bearing beasts with veins for the Ichor to be pumped through, the Sea-Shade has their Ichor suspended throughout themselves and is so apt and so capable at the direction of the forces induced through that Ichor, that they are able to approximate function and labors of muscle, while not possessing an ounce of flesh. It is actually a matter of contention between naturalists as to what constitutes the ‘stomach’ of a Sea-Shade. Some believe that these beasts have a protective skin of gelatinous acid, layered over their body, and somewhere inside lies a stomach that can be formed and unformed at will, where food is sent to be digested. Others believe that the entire body of the Sea-Shade is the ‘stomach’, and that all it needs to do to eat something is simply subsume it.

Given the nature of their bodies, it is unclear if it is even possible for one to die of sickness or of advanced age. In fact, the only way to determine the age of a Sea-Shade is through their teeth, which grow larger, layer by layer throughout their entire life. By cutting the tooth, and counting the layers, one can accurately estimate the age of a specimen, much like one could with the rings of a tree. Interestingly, if a tooth is lost, but the Sea-Shade still has the nerve root that belonged to it, it can replace the tooth with an appropriately hard object – such as bone from a fish, a rock from the seafloor, a cannonball – and it will even start to grow enamel over it, layer by layer. Furthermore, there have been many documented cases of specimens taken with teeth much larger and older than the rest, obvious evidence of inter-species competition, scavenging, and cannibalism – or just scavenging and cannibalism, if you agree with the single-species hypothesis laid out in <span class="mu-s">The Nautical Naturalist, Vol IX</span>.

With the average specimen brought up by Oilers having a diameter of eighty feet at sea-level, Sea-Shades are among the smallest of the Ichor-bearing beasts in this Bestiary. Moreover, they are easily the lightest, as for all of its size, a typical catch tips the scales at less than a long ton. However, their most important distinction is that they are the amongst the most sought after of all of the Ichor-bearers.”</span>