Encyclopaedia Elysia | Creatures / Sfaitelos

Name: Sfaitelos (or bubble newt)

Category: Pets, Useful

Size: Small

Lifespan: 3-5 years

Appearance

Sfaitelos are newts that come in a variety of green shades and are distinctive for having a tail covered in small, clear globes that look somewhat like bubbles of skin. These globes are made of the same soft and moist skin that covers the sfaitelos, but the skin takes on a transparent quality at the top of the globes, enabling onlookers to see the water stored within.

The sfaitelos also has a globe atop its head, and this is known as its “crown”. This crown is the largest globe on the creature’s body, and it is also transparent and holds water (and serves as an indicator of the sfaitelos’ environment).

Like most newts, the sfaitelos has four legs with webbed feet, a fairly flat head with a black eye on each side, and a slender tail. The females have a slightly incandescent sheen to their skin.

Behaviour

Sfaitelos spend much of their time in freshwater habitats, mostly lakes and slow running rivers. They stick to the shallows, floating above the water’s surface or dipping just under the surface to eat. The crown and tail globes provide buoyancy to support the sfaitelos’ weak swimming skills.

The sfaitelos can also be found on land, where it will seek wet and calm areas. Sfaitelos are lazy creatures, and do little but swim/float, eat and sleep.

Diet: Sfaitelos are herbivores, and they mostly eat aquatic plants. Phikeia is a particular favourite.

Habitat: Sfaitelos are found in freshwater habitats, particularly those without fast running currents. The majority of the population can be found at Lake Bethesda, although at least one can be found in every lake. There are no sfaitelos to be found in Dardanos.

Breeding: Sfaitelos breed once a year, usually in the summer months. They return to water to do this, as the courting ceremonies involve fascinating displays of water acrobatics. The female lays up to five eggs per breeding session, attaching them to (and wrapping them in) an aquatic plant where they will hatch two months later. The baby sfaitelos does not initially have legs or a crown, but it will undergo a metamorphosis two months after birth to grow them.

Special Information

Strengths/Abilities:

The sfaitelos stores both water and oxygen in its globes for later use. It secretes the water to keep its skin moist, and uses the oxygen to breathe underwater, or to achieve buoyancy.
The sfaitelos can also spurt water from its mouth at high speeds to deter aggressors and as part of the mating ceremony.
It can re-grow limbs. This also serves as a weakness, as some keep small sfaitelos farms in order to cut off the tail of the creature, secure in the knowledge that it will grow back and that the crown will be sufficient to supply the sfaitelos with water and oxygen.

Weaknesses:

The sfaitelos needs to keep its skin moist, otherwise it will become dehydrated and die.
The sfaitelos doesn’t have gills but lungs, and it relies upon the oxygen it stores in several of its globes to breathe underwater.

Uses:

Sfaitelos can be domesticated as pets. They are useful to those who require water, such as elemental manipulators. Nymphs in particular are good at encouraging a pet sfaitelos to eject water from its mouth, taking care not to deplete the creature’s supply of water completely.
The tail can be eaten, but many complain that the texture is too rubbery, and the globes are off-putting. It is most commonly used in pet food for omnivorous and carnivorous animals.

Origin: Unknown.

Creator: Hollie