The Real Life Inspiration Behind 9 Creatues From Subnautica

Subnautica is a game series full of alien wildlife inspired by real world animals. For this list I tried to avoid some of the more obvious ones like Ventgardens being based on jellyfish or Crimson Rays being rays.

 

Pinnacarid

A small, social predator that feeds on fish. It is friendly towards the player and can even be hand fed. Although, mostly aquatic pinnacarids can sometimes be found scuttling across the ice in Below Zero.

Pinnacarids behave similarly to seals, but have an appearance that closely resembles that of the extinct Radiodonta - an order of invertebrates with distinctive appendages.

Sea Monkey

Sea Monkeys are an intelligent fauna species with a penchant for stealing man-made items to add to their nests. They are not dangerous to the player and may even bring gifts of raw materials to the player.

Sea Monkeys have the body of a knifefish with a somewhat mammalian face, and are prone to stealing similar to monkeys, but are intelligent enough to know what is natural versus man-made, like a raven. And like corvids, they are thoughtful gift-givers; having an idea as to what sorts of things the player may want and offering them.

Lily Paddler

A herbivorous creature found almost exclusively within the lilypad region, it uses a defensive hypnosis on any perceived threats that get too close. The hypnosis causes the player to lose control of their movement, sense of direction, and inflicts temporary color-blindness.

The Lily Paddlers body shape is almost identicle to the common seadragon.

Reefback Leviathan

A slow moving, open water giant. The gentle Reefback is
the second largest passive life form on 4546B, and the third largest creature overall.

The shape of the Reefback's body is reminiscent of the Cortez Round Ray and the long tentacles that drag behind it are vaguely similar to those Duobrachium sparksae. D. sparksae uses its tentacles to adhere to the seafloor - something the Reefback was originally intended to do but ultimately left out of the game.

Noot Fish

A small predatory fish that uses an extendable mouth to catch prey. It is harmless to the player.

Slingjaw wrasse are a fish species notable for their protrusible jaws. However, the Noot Fish's fanned mouth is much more akin to the one found in cone snails.

 

 
River Prowler

The River Prowler is a deep water predator that will lash out at prey with its tendrils.

The River Prowler's clear body is reminiscent of a glass catfish. The face resembles a Pacific Viperfish and the long whiskers are somewhat similar to a tripodfish.

Brinewing

A fast predator that uses a super cooled saline solution expelled through its mouth to freeze prey items it comes into contact with.

The face of the Brinewing is similar to that of a red cornet fish or ribbon eel. The large fins look like flying gurnard. Its behavior is similar to the archerfish which uses a spray of water to catch bugs out of reach.

Mesmer

An aggressive life form found in caves and deep, dark waters. The Mesmer is capable of manipulating its prey's mind, beckoning them to approach. It will bite larger creatures and then flee before it can be attacked.

The Mesmer's face is reminiscent of telescope fish or barreleye fish (Winteria telescopa). It's fins are similar in shape to a cave angel fish, and its flashing colors mimic the flashing Tilefish or cuttlefish. 

Ghost Leviathan

Found in volcanic regions, it will open up its mouth and make a loud, echoing screech when charging. Adults are able to push the Cyclops and either drag it, or overturn it.

Most closely resembles a larval cusk-eel in color and a tomopteris or glass eel in body.