Giant Lamprey

An eel-like blood-feeder with a smooth, scaleless body and a round, lipless mouth ringed with rasping teeth, a living funnel of fangs. Most are mottled brown-green; deep-water kin trend grayer and grow to the length of a tall man. They lurk in flooded caverns and coral hollows, homing unerringly on warm-blooded prey from miles off. A lamprey strikes, clamps its sucker mouth fast, and drains blood steadily until gorged. Sea-dwelling kinds recoil from fire. A mutated land strain breathes air, slithers snake-like through damp brush, and hunts in packs, clinging to a victim to sap both blood and vigor. They make persistent, low-level menaces of marsh, shore, and drowned ruin.