Cephalos / Cephadrome
“ The coloration of these piscine wyverns is well-suited to the deserts they inhabit. Excellent burrowers, they swim through the sand in packs, rarely surfacing. Their ears are highly developed; any impact caused by striking the ground forces them out of hiding. The leaders of Cephalos herds are set apart by their larger size and hard, black scales. Like their smaller counterparts, they have excellent hearing, making them sensitive to loud noises. Their fins also secrete a paralytic agent. ”
– MHGU
Scientific Taxonomy & Character Information
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Reptilomorpha
Class: Herpetopsaria
Order: Piscinopoda
Family: Tigropsalidaw
Genius: Tigropsala
Species: Tigropsala ammophilos
Descendant: Embolomeri?
Named by: ???
Year Published: ???
Size:
Cephalos: 2.6 meters (8.53 feet) tall in height; 14.5 meters (570.86 inches) in length; 450 kg (992.08 pounds) in weight
Cephadrome: 3.0 meters (9.84 feet) tall in height; 15.4 meters (606.29 inches) in length; 523 kg (1153.02 pounds) in weight
Type:
Tetrapods (Fishwyrms)
Piscine Wyverns
Non-indigenous Species
Title:
Sand Swimming Wyvern
Pantheon:
Sawintiran
Yaddovian
Time Period: Holocene
Alignment: Territorial
Threat Level: ★★★★
Diet: Carnivorous
Elements: Earth, water
Inflicts: Sanded, watered
Weaknesses: Sound, ice, water
Casualties: ???
Based On: itself
Conservation Status: Least Concern (LC) – IUCN Red List
Cephalos and Cephadrome ® - This species is a registered trademark of Capcom Co., and it is used by Earth Responsibly and Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure spinoff as permission.
Cephalos and Cephadrome (Tigropsala ammophilos) are fictional species of sand-dwelling Piscine Wyvern (or Fish Lizards) introduced in Monster Hunter 1, as well as Monster Hunter movie.
Etymology
Cephalos is the Modern Greek: κεφάλι (kefáli) or Ancient Greek: κεφαλή (kephale), both are meaning "head", due to their arrow-shaped head like hammerhead shark for dig and swim in sands.
Physical Appearance
Cephalos have streamlined, flat body shapes that make it easier for them to swim through the sand. Their eyes face upward, and their heads have a vaguely hammer-like shape. They blend in with the desert sands thanks to their brown and beige coloring. The true color of a Cephalos is blue, or rarely purple, but over time sand sticks to their bodies covering the blue coloration.
Cephadrome have blue or purple scale-covered skin, yellow eyes, and pink or yellow fins. As sand covers their body, their skin appears brownish black. They have fins, a tail, and a flat, diamond-shaped head that helps them move through the sand, not unlike a hammerhead shark or the extinct prehistoric amphibian Diplocaulus.
Abilities
Surprisingly social creatures, they hunt in packs and swim through the shifting sand. They are predatory and can cooperate to outnumber opponents who are much larger than themselves. The swallowed sand is kept in their bodies in a special organ that combines the sand with mucus and stores it for use as a weapon against prey.
They frequently flee by diving into the sand as a result of their caution when fighting. To hurt hunters, they shoot sand streams, use tail swipes, and hipchecks. Due to their caution when fighting, they frequently flee by diving into the sand. They hurt hunters by hipchecking, swiping the tail, and shooting sand streams. Some also have gained the unusual ability to swim through sand with as little friction as possible built onto body on a microscopic level on its skin allowing smooth simple hops out of sand like its swimming to instantly standing on it like its solid again with its feet.
They have been known to paralyze prey while swimming by using their dorsal fin, biting with their fangs, or mixing saliva with sand attacks. Since they have excellent hearing, a sonic bomb can be used to stop them by startling them out of the sand, much like the Plesioth.
These pack orders correspond with what attack it is performing such as team breath attacks where the leader has multiple pack members, all larger than a human spit sand beams at targets while the leader after its pack members spits a giant beam of sand its gathered while its pack distracts.
Cephadrome's roar requires Earplugs passive skill to block.
Weaknesses
If a sonic bomb is used, cephalos will emerge from the sand because they are sensitive to loud noises. They are also affected by the screams of large desert animals and the loud noises made by small barrel bombs.
Ecology
Their eyesight has been affected from swimming in the sand so much that they are now almost completely blind. Instead, Cephalos listens for the prey's breathing in addition to its footsteps. They will be shocked out of the ground and stunned by the loud noise if the sounds are extremely loud.
Its scales store a lot of moisture in order to keep it cool in the desert's heat, which promotes greater activity in its surroundings. They use a cut from their fins to restrain prey by injecting a paralyzing venom into them. They must occasionally jump out of the sand to get air because they can't breathe there. On the other hand, as they swim, they will swallow a little sand. The swallowed sand is kept in their bodies in a special organ that combines the sand with mucus and stores it to be used as a weapon against prey.
Cephalos are swift pack hunters that ambush prey from below, attacking lynxes, cougars, lions, ringtails, theropods, and snakes to feed on a variety of desert animals. Large predators, including lions, apes, jaguars, cougars, tigers, boas, pythons, sauropods, synapsids, theropods, griffins, and even dragons, prey on them because they are still young. For food and territory, Cephalos must contend with their piscine wyvern relatives, the Delex. Cephadrome grow larger as a result of their position as the leader of the Cephalos. Their eyesight has gotten so bad from swimming in the sand so much that they are now almost completely blind. Instead, Cephadrome listens for the prey's breathing in addition to its footsteps. They will be shocked out of the ground and stunned by the loud noise if the sounds are extremely loud.
Its scales store a lot of moisture in order to keep it cool in the desert's heat, which promotes greater activity in its surroundings. They use a cut from their fins to restrain prey by injecting a paralyzing venom into them. They must occasionally jump out of the sand to get air because they can't breathe there.
On the other hand, as they swim, they will swallow a little sand. The swallowed sand is kept in their bodies in a special organ that combines the sand with mucus and stores it to be used as a weapon against prey.
Cephadromes, together with the Cephalos, can be quite effective hunters. They mostly feed upon the smaller monsters, like crabs, tadpole shrimps, deer, rat, peccaries, cats, ringtails, raccoons, foxes, antelopes, and others in crossing the open desert although will go after larger prey if given the opportunity. However, these Piscine Wyverns have to deal with other larger predators. Cephadrome will do their best to avoid Diablos and Monoblos as they are known for being highly aggressive towards just about anything.
It's fascinating to consider that these animals begin their lives in water. The females lay the eggs in an oasis, and the eggs hatch during the dry season. When the young hatch, they will swim in the mud, but as it dries, it will become much more difficult for them to swim in. As the mud begins to turn to sand, the hatchlings will gradually learn to swim through dunes, and it is extremely important that they do so, according to Queen Arianna.
Behavior
Cephalos are known for congregating in packs and hunting alongside their leaders, Cephadrome. They are known to be mildly aggressive. When food sources run out, they are also renowned for moving to different areas of the desert. They are a nuisance when fighting other monsters due to their moderate aggression. Although Cephadromes are very aggressive, they will engage in evasive actions if they believe the threat to be too serious.
Distribution and Habitat
The Cephalos and Cephadrome are perfectly adapted for living in the deserts, badlands, near riverbanks, and even white sand dunes from Earth (such as North Africa; Southern Europe to France; Western Asia; Central Asia; and even North America); Sawintir; and Delphia planets.
Movement Pattern: Full Migrant
Population Trend: Stable
Population: 40,000
Locomotion: Terrestrial and burrowing
Habitat: All
Earth: ???
Tamed
Cephalos and Cephadrome can be a pet. The carcass or dead animal dropped by survivor when works when the monster has not noticed the survivor.
Lore
Coming soon
Known Individuals
Coming soon
Gallery
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Updates
15/3/2023 - Cephalos was introduced
Foreign Languages
Mandarin: 潜沙龙 / 砂龙
Japanese: ドスガレオス (Dosugareosu)
Hawaiian: Nui Kaleʻosu
Korean: 큰 가레오쓰 (keun gare-osseu)
Mongolian: Том Гареоза (Gareoza)
Turkish: Gereobüyük
Coptic: Ⲇⲟⲡⲉϯⲣⲁⲙ (Dopetiram)
Trivia
Cephalos will occasionally attack boss monsters such as Tigrex or Diablos if in the same area.
Cephalos is unique among minions as it has a breakable part - its fin. Breaking this does not affect rewards or carves.
Cephalos is also the only minion and small animals that has the exclamation mark above its head when it spots a survivor. Most large animals have this.
The Cephadrome is only guardian that do not have any kind of personal drop to them, dropping Cephalos scales and fins instead of any "Cephadrome" drops.
The Cephadrome can be driven out of the sand with a well timed, fully charged hammer attack. Whether this is due to the sound generated or the force generated is unknown.
There is a rare glitch in MHFU that the Cephadrome would sometimes be much lighter coloured than usual, usually the same colour as a Cephalos.