The Sea-Dog, called the Coten, or {w-nh-uh} by the mermen, is the size of a bear or larger. It has hair as long as a man is tall, white, but with a slight, icy blue hue. When fishes touch this hair they are tangled and paralyzed, and the dog combs them out with long hooked claws, and eats them. It never eats men. Some people gradually inure themselves to the sting and bathe in the hair. The Coten's eyes, and the skin around them, are gleaming red.

They live alone with their mate, and mate for life. They give birth on shore and leave their young to themselves. These hunt small creatures on shore, and then swim out to sea and grow their long hair. While their hair is short it still gives the young ones some protection by giving a strong sting when touched.

Throughout their lives they make little or no sound. They have no scent. They willingly allow people to bathe in their hair, unless they are hungry and the person scares away their food. They can be kept in and fed very easily.

I have other threads about this creature here:
http://www.holyworlds.org/scifi/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=982
And here:
http://www.holyworlds.org/fantasy/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4782&p=96475#p96475

I think this was very interesting! I did have a couple questions, though.

How quickly does the young sea-dogs' hair grow? A few inches a year?
How many pounds does the sea-dog weigh?

Thank you Elly!

It has about one inch of hair when it is born, and it is very dense. They grow to be about the size of a pony before they swim out to sea, but their hair is still one inch. When they do swim out to sea their hair grows to its full length in less than a month, sometimes less than two weeks.

They would weigh more than a bear because of their hair. It weighs a little more than a bear without its hair. I suppose it would be 1,066 pounds or more.

Thank you for the answers.

The sea-dog weighs quite a bit. Do you know how much of that weight is the hair?

I looked up the weight of a brown bear, which was up to 790 lbs on average, I increased that to 800, and added a third of 800 (266+) for the hair, (which would make the hair one fourth of its whole weight), and at the end it was 1,066 pounds.

But the polar bear can be up to 1,500 pounds on average, so the Sea-Dog, hair and all, is 434 pounds lighter on average than the the largest bear, which sounds about right to me.

That sounds reasonable.

I think the Coten is my favorite of your creatures so far.

Thank you Jonathan!

But is that because you are scared of all the others?

I think it is more that I could easily envision this creature, so while it is still very unique and original, it isn't so unusual that my mind has a hard time picturing what it might be like.

I now have threads about this creature here:
http://www.holyworlds.org/scifi/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=982
And here:
http://www.holyworlds.org/fantasy/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4782&p=96475#p96475