What Are Tikos?

Why are tikos called 'sea serpents' when they aren’t related to snakes?

Tikos were given the name ‘sea serpents’ by ancient sailors’ observations of groups of tikos had only their long snake-like necks and heads protruding from the surface of the water, thus giving them the appearance of giant serpents. Their latin name, Tikonnis deinos, also reflects this observation of them being sea serpents. Tikonnis is derived from the roman word for “snake beast”, while ‘deinos’ translates from latin to be ‘terrible.’ Therefore, their name means ‘terrible snake beast’. Among pescanguids, tikos have the longest necks. These necks are not only impressively long, but surprisingly flexible and capable of bending and turning in a myriad of directions. This also likely was responsible for so many early explorers likening them to serpents of some kind. If the length of their necks don’t give them away, the shape of their skulls certainly will. All tikos possess an “underbite” with the bottom jaw extending far outward than the top and all tikos also have mangled, messy looking dentition that splay out or stick upward. These features are obvious in some species and subtle in others.