Opee sea killer

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

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"Big gooberfish! Huge-o teeth!"

―Jar Jar Binks^[4]

The opee sea killer, sometimes referred to as simply an opee, was a large carnivorous sea creature of approximately twenty meters in length. A hybrid of crustacean and fish, it inhabited the watery planet core of Naboo. It was the third-largest predator on Naboo, smaller than only the colo claw fish and the even larger sando aqua monster, which both preyed on it. It was the largest creature on the planet to have a prehensile tongue. Another of its predators was the titavian.^[5]

Characteristics[]

The opee sea killer is an amalgam of evolutionary traits found in other animals. It has armor and limbs like a crustacean, but has the massive hinged jaws of other fishes.^[6] The opee was a predator that often clung to rocky outcroppings or hid in caverns or under ledges awaiting prey.^[4] When forced to move, the opee was perfectly adapted to swim–in its own unusual way–sucking water into its mouth and propelling it from pores beneath armored plates at the rear of its body. This unique technique, coupled with three pairs of powerful legs and a pair of pectoral guidance fins, allowed the opee to accelerate quickly underwater.^[6] Once in range of prey, the opee would extend its massive, gooey, purple prehensile tongue, successfully catching its prey,^[4] and reeling it into a vicious, gaping maw of multi-rowed teeth.^[6] If its prey was small, the opee would simply use its prehensile tongue to pull it into its mouth and quickly devour it in one bite. If prey were large, then after grabbing it, the opee would bite several times before eating it whole. The opee also used the long antennas protruding from the top of its head as lures to draw prey towards its double rows of fangs.^[5] Its thick chitinous hide could deflect blasts from energy blasters.

Opees were known to be mouth breeders, with the male opee carrying fertilized eggs inside its mouth for three months–forcing the male to fast until the young were born. From birth, opees could sustain themselves instinctively (and gruesomely). It was not unknown for unhatched opee eggs to be swallowed by colo claw fish, creatures later killed in a grisly manner when the newborn young chewed their way out of the colo's stomach. This could also occur if the colo swallowed young opees alive.^[5]

History[]

Opee attack — An opee uses its purple prehensile tongue to eat its prey.

During the time of the Invasion of Naboo, an opee sea killer spotted the tribubble bongo used by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Jar Jar Binks (who referred to it as a "big gooberfish") to reach the city of Theed. It stealthily pursued the submersible, and caught up quickly. Mere inches away, the opee extended its purple prehensile tongue, grabbing it and jerking it into its mouth. As it was attempting to feast, the creature was attacked by an even larger underwater predator–the massive sando aqua monster, considered the opee's deep-sea rival. The monster bit down on the fish, causing it to release its prey, before tearing it in half and devouring it.^[4]

During the early Galactic Civil War roughly 30 years later, an opee sea killer spotted a bongo vehicle that was traveling around the ocean floor. It fired its purple prehensile tongue at the sub and pulled it into its mouth, but it was quickly devoured by a sando aqua monster before it had a chance to eat it, which a Star Tours–owned StarSpeeder 1000 witnessed.^[7]

By unknown means, opees were introduced to Aquilaris, and could be seen swimming by the tunnels in which podraces took place.^[8]

One opee sea killer was housed inside the Royal Icqui Aquaria, a large, public aquarium that was situated on the planet Coruscant, and the sea killer was the largest living creature in the facility.^[9]

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Behind the scenes[]

Early designs of the opee sea killer showed a creature that was little more than a tooth-filled jaw grafted onto a combination fish and crab body. Later sketches refined the look, though a possible design direction incorporating mammalian characteristics–a long body and a fin-like tail–were explored and abandoned. The opee stayed the fish/crab hybrid, and the mammal traits were worked into the sando aqua monster designs.^[6]

In the first draft of the Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace script, the opee sea killer was to attack the bongo with "paralyzing spit balls," but they were replaced with a purple prehensile tongue.^[10]