Meet Meriterä! She is an Artine! A Pokemon fusion between an Arbok and a Mantine I adopted from  Annika!

---

MANTINE BIO:

Based off of sea snakes, this Mantine and Arbok fusion has adapted to living underwater - with gills, they don’t need to breach the ocean's surface to catch their breath, and most of the time they can be found deep, VERY deep underwater, where light is scarce. Thanks to their crest/collar, fins on their spine and their rudder-like tail fin, they slice through water with frightening speeds, which they use to hunt down their prey.

Due to their unique physical properties, prey they eat will stay completely safe underwater and suffer no consequences from the pressures associated with the depths of the ocean. Better yet, in order to regulate the pressures within their body as they dive further down, their stomach will form gases which converges into oxygen and can be breathed in by prey. Additionally, the oxygen can be stored for emergencies where the snake is unable to breathe through their gills due to damage or otherwise. Alternatively, instead of converting the gas into oxygen, the snake can release it through belch-like exhales to help it descend deeper into the ocean floor.

Interestingly, their eyes have a hypnotic-like glow to them, that often lures far too curious divers in for a closer look. The more superstitious witnesses of the snake believe magic is the reasoning behind the snake achieving this effect. Once the lured prey is close enough, the snake wraps its body around the prey to prevent any chance of escape before proceeding to swallow the prey whole. After this, the snake swiftly descends deep underwater to retreat back its lair, which is usually a cave too deep for divers.

The snake can produce a non-corrosive form of venom which mixes in with the salivated stomach which coats the prey. The venom then passes into the prey through the pores of their skin. This venom is non-lethal and affects the prey's brain in a similar way to alcohol, the main effects being time displacement, warm and numb sensations, memory loss and a highly elevated mood.

The snake has been sighted in various lakes, lagoons and trenches and therefore it is assumed that the snake is highly adaptable to different water temperatures. It is also hypothesized that the snake is highly intelligent due to living a nomad lifestyle to presumably evade detection. Alongside this, it is believed that the snake uses bodies of water such as lakes in summer-time, when tourism is high as source for food.

---

As a side note, I was thinking of whenever Pokemon makes a Finnish-based region, she will be from the ancient version of that - like how Hisuian Pokemon existed but she's a lost Mantine evolution.

Art by  Annika
Meriterä belongs to me~
[Completed: 29/06/2022]