assorted inkfish physiology headcanons
their internal organs, veins & arteries are constructed from the same thin skin material as their actual skin is
their ‘blood’ is a mixture of ink and oxygen carriers like iron or copper and is usually colored like their ink
inkfish going through stressful or developmental periods can have parts of their eyemasks flake off or splinter. this also happens if they dont hydrate so lotion is sometimes applied to the mask to keep it Pristine
the condition where an inkfish’s skin is an odd color like keaton’s is a remnant of their childhood where their thin skin didnt develop to contain melanin and thus shows through to their ink color
other conditions like beika’s are maybe due to some desaturating thickness of the skin. maybe he is just mad ashy and dehydrated and that leads to it. use some fucking lotion take a shower beika i hate you
most octolings develop from eggs. some octarians that are born from severed tentacles can develop into humanoid bodies but the octolings that come from that have some physical differences. these include their head tentacles sort of fading into their skin rather than having a hairline, or the development into a full blown octoling stopping awkwardly after a certain point.
uncomfortable growths of mask material can form on random parts of an inkfish’s body. the shoulders, chest, and back are common places but it can occur basically anywhere.
during development or through strenuous activity, inkfish can physically stretch their thin skin a bit too much. this leads to marks on their body where the skin seems to “split” or be stretched thin enough for ink colored scars to be visible. for most inklings, these splits appear more as cuts or divots into the skin. as for octolings they resemble keloid scars. both species have exceptions resembling the opposite. physically these marks are like stretch marks, but visibly resemble body hair.
inkling and octoling ink have different consistencies. it varies depending on individual but octarians tend to have thicker ink than that of inklings. this applies to ink that comes from the body and the ink used in inksports is filtered through the weapons to be the same consistency in order to prevent any unfair advantages caused by the differences in ink thickness.
inklings specifically when in human form develop a semi-solid column of ink in their back to help them stay upright. while more flexible than any human would be, this makes them less flexible than octarians. octarian ink being thicker keeps octolings upright thanks to PURE MUSCLE.
specials being limited in turf war is mandated for health and safety reasons. when an inkfish is hyped up, the volume of ink in their body increases and thus their internal pressure. the temperature of their ink also rises and leads to the ink within their body to boil. in order to prevent symptoms of heat stroke, it is advised not to abuse or spam one’s special NOR to remove the limiter from one’s ink tank. another reason special spamming is frowned upon is because prolonged pressure increases can cause an inkfish’s internal organs and arteries to rupture which is obviously not fucking good.
if an inkfish really REALLY wants to experience water (why would you want to??) they could undergo a process to thicken their skin. the training is long and strenuous and doing it would forfeit one’s ability to shapeshift. this would also forfeit the ability to respawn since both abilities are tied to thin skin. the process is only truly valuable for those who have already gotten very old and dont really need to shapeshift or respawn anymore. sundrying is one of these processes and is most commonly practiced by elder inklings in order to prolong their life when the only real threat to them would be water.
