Captivity

Eight Facts about Mer Danny

1. When Danny was born, his coloring was originally a mix of washed out grays, including his eyes. His scales didn't start to darken until the illness that plagues him became active around the time he was six to eight months old.
On that note, most mermian species will have their colors fade or darken into shades of gray if they are sickly, or in poor health for any number of reasons. This is a protective mechanism for the mers as a species; the washed out colors prevent or deter the chance in attracting a mate and possibly passing the illness along to future offspring. Unfortunately this doesn't always work. Some illnesses are inherited even if both of the parents are healthy mers, through recessive traits or from past history of illness from other family members such as aunts and uncles. This is the case for Danny given that both of his parents are strong and healthy, and yet he was born ill.
Danny's illness is based on an actual illness that can be seen today in some dog breeds, primarily the black springer spaniel. It is known as Sudden Onset Aggression (SOA), informally as Springer Rage. It is an epileptic disease that affects the memory and emotion parts of the brain, sending those affected into periodic stages of hyper alertness and sudden, unexplained aggression towards anything and anyone. There is no known cure for SOA and it is something that can only be bred out (as far as dogs are concerned).
There are a few signs to look out for when Danny's illness is active, the most noticeable being the vibrant glare of emerald in his eyes, making them appear to almost glow. The rest tends to lay in his behavior. He will often grow quite still at first, but not in a relaxed state, muscles taunt as if ready to spring before he will lash out. A raised dorsal fin and elevated earfins are other signs of aggression. In truth, aside from his eyes, it can be difficult to tell if the illness is active, as he tends to have a short tempered personality.



2. Unlike in a number of Mer Danny stories, Captivity's Danny cannot speak the human language, nor does he have the vocal processes to do so. Most mers within this AU do not have the vocal cords to speak in tongues as we do, but instead rely on a unique organ known as a resonating chamber.
This organ sits between their lungs and diaphragm, almost like a third lung. However unlike their lungs, it is much denser and has a hard, muscular wall that can contract and stretch in ways to alter sound. (It's kind of like those straws you see in screaming chicken toys. When air is pushed through, it squawks.) It allows them to make long, howling calls similar to whales and orcas, however they are also capable of hissing, squawking, chirping and clicking.
The times that Danny does speak in Captivity, it is a forced motion that twists his muscles in unnatural and often painful ways. This was why Sam decided to teach Danny sign language after she found out about the damage it was causing him trying to bridge the communication gap.
On a separate note, he is quite capable of reading and understanding human language given enough practice. His lack of communication has nothing to do with a lack of intelligence, there is just a species barrier that differs him greatly from humans.



3. Due to his unusual upbringing, Danny has quite an unusual taste in foods. Most mers, given their size, prefer to eat at least a third of their weight a day in fish, thus certain foods, such as shellfish are tedious and not rewarding in portion size. However, Danny spent much of his young life without someone to teach him how to hunt, thus he turned towards rather unusual food choices that were easier for a young mer to obtain. As such he is quite fond of most types of shellfish.
His primary favorites are shrimp, clams, crab, and lobster. He didn't become acquainted with much in the way of shrimp until his time in captivity, to which it quickly became one of his favorites due to its sweet taste. Fish wise he'll eat just about anything he can get his claws on, but he does have a fondness for salmon and flounder.



4. Danny does not think like a human.
This is probably one of the hardest concepts to get across throughout the entirety of the Captivity story. He is not a human with a fish tail, but a fish himself in every aspect of the word. There are a number of things that he cannot relate to or understand as we do due to his upbringing and overall social cues his species has.
There are a number of times this comes into play throughout Captivity's storyline, as one of the primary themes is miscommunication. Admittedly it can be hard to decipher it in text given the number of times Danny attempts to bridge the gap between himself and humanity to get closer to Sam. Of which the entire concept of why he is trying to get close to her was a misunderstanding from the very beginning.
Yes he is capable of logic when it comes to problem solving, even to the point of deciphering text and learning to read. No, our body language and his do not match up, combined with social behaviors on both species can result in some nasty misunderstandings.
One of the many confrontations was between him and Nathaniel early on when the biologist was trying to vaccinate him. When he'd withheld the oysters he'd intended as a treat, Danny had mistaken it as a challenge over what he considered a potential mating gift instead of being denied food till he performed a task.



5. Captivity's Danny is a Caribbean Mer. Caribbean mers are one of the many species that will be seen throughout Captivity's storyline, living primarily in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. They tend to be average sized, ranging between seven to ten feet in length, and an average weight of 260 to 450 lbs. They're known for their bright colors, dual male genotypes (the Drake and the Bull), and matriarchal hierarchy.
Danny himself is a bull mer; known for their vibrant colors (which he lacks due to illness), large size, and sharp, combat oriented fins. They're also the more temperamental and aggressive of the two types of males. Fun fact, if he had been healthy he would have been born as a drake. His illness increased the hormones that result in aggression and thus changed his genotype from drake to bull.
Some of the other species that will be guaranteed to show in Captivity are the Australian/New Zealand mers, and Amazonian/Brazilian mers.



6. Again with Danny's unusual upbringing, he is willing to do some rather unusual and questionable things to obtain food, shelter, etc. A mer of his size would usually avoid shallow waters or the fact that as a saltwater mer he should avoid freshwater, but he would often do the exact opposite. It wasn't uncommon for him to wade his way through the mangrove swamps of the Caribbean Isles in search of food during high tide. Being able to breathe air through his lungs helps negate the issue of salinity with his gills. (This can leave him vulnerable to the environment being so close to the surface.)
He also isn't shy of jumping out of the water. With his long, powerful tail, he can propel himself almost seven feet out of the water. He would often use this to his advantage, targeting monkeys and other prey in the trees that hung just too close to the waters.


7. Despite his usually vocal behavior while in captivity, Danny is relatively quiet, and almost mute amidst his kind. His shoal has a relatively hostile or impassive response to him, making socialization next to impossible. As a result he tends to become rather withdrawn and almost introverted around other mers in his shoal. (This doesn't account for his illness being active or territorial behaviors, only normal social interactions). He is especially submissive towards his close family, namely his mother. Her status as the matriarch results in her treating him quite harshly due to his potential threat to the rest of the shoal.


8. On a fun note, Danny's scales are somewhat based on a black panther's fur. Like how their spots are visible in the sunlight, and seem to fade in the dark, his stripes do the same. The color difference is subtle, but the stripes are more of a blue black vs the green black hue of the rest of him. Overall his stripes can be seen when he's lying about in the sun, but they do become a more prominent feature when in season and summer months when the water is warmer. Colors tend to become brighter during times when male mers attempt to attract mates through song and dance; for Danny this means a slightly greener hue to his scales and a vibrant, teal colored lateral line.
The teal coloring of his lateral line is the most visible color on Danny's entire body. This is because the lateral line's color isn't affected by the phenotype that alters his color scheme. Its vibrant, glowing appearance along his side is because it is, in fact, quite literally glowing. It is a form of bioluminescence, which is one of the world's most prominent forms of non-vocal communication in the world. There are more animals on this planet that communicate with bioluminescence than there are human languages.

All mers use this form of communication in one method or another depending on the breed. Caribbean mers have their 'body-lights' along their lateral lines. (Some species have then on their back or along some of their fins) They can cause them to flicker, pulse or glow steady depending on what message they're trying to convey; serving as an aid in communication, especially in poor lighting or murky waters. 

And here are some pictures of Mer Danny's fammily:

Mer Danny:

Mer Jazz:

And Mer Maddie:

I didn't find a picture of Mer Jack exept the one in the media.