Discussing Inkling/Octoling Biology

[ShinyGirafarig]

Turf Wars might still be enjoyed by adult inklings the same way in our human society people like to say cartoons are for kids but still may have adult fans.

 

[Globin347]

Actually, I believe adult turf wars would be more along the lines of a professional sports association.

And if I remember correctly, that interview stated that the inklings were intended to have a personality like a 17 or 18 year old, but be a little younger...

Although I don't think it would be realistic for every inkling who participates in minor league turf wars to be the same age.

Similarly, it is unrealistic for inklings to gain the ability to go squid form at the same time; everyone grows at a different rate.
14, realistically, would be the average age of attaining this ability, although the standard deviation would likely be less than six months.

 

[BlackZero]

I like to think that Turf Wars/Splat games form the basis of all Inkling society, mostly because that is hilarious.

*Business executives enter a boardroom*
"Gentlemen, we are here to take a vote on buying out Bristol-Myers Squidd." *CEO pulls out a .92 Gal Deco* "Recorder, start the timer."

 

[ShinyGirafarig]

I like to think that Turf Wars/Splat games form the basis of all Inkling society, mostly because that is hilarious.

*Business executives enter a boardroom*
"Gentlemen, we are here to take a vote on buying out Bristol-Myers Squidd." *CEO pulls out a .92 Gal Deco* "Recorder, start the timer."

Not as bad as settling everything with glorified pitbull fights (Pokemon).

 

[dapperlace]

Something someone mentioned reminded me of some things:

1. What kind of illnesses would these Inklings contract, if any?
2. Do such illnesses occasionally leave them unable to fully take their "human" forms?
3. Would substances like alcohol do something similar?

and on an unrelated note:
I still find it interesting that despite being able to go through a lot of things, Inklings can't actually go through one another. It's sort of awkward when I bump into a teammate as they swim, or vice versa, but also kind of funny.

 

[ShinyGirafarig]

Something someone mentioned reminded me of some things:

1. What kind of illnesses would these Inklings contract, if any?
2. Do such illnesses occasionally leave them unable to fully take their "human" forms?
3. Would substances like alcohol do something similar?

and on an unrelated note:
I still find it interesting that despite being able to go through a lot of things, Inklings can't actually go through one another. It's sort of awkward when I bump into a teammate as they swim, or vice versa, but also kind of funny.

Probably illnesses similar to the flu and the like and substances probably affect them.

I have a theory that their prisons are in bulletproof glass tanks (without water of course). The air holes are smaller than their beaks that they can't get out of but air can be exchanged to allow them to breathe.

 

[Globin347]

I still find it interesting that despite being able to go through a lot of things, Inklings can't actually go through one another. It's sort of awkward when I bump into a teammate as they swim, or vice versa, but also kind of funny.

Inklings can slip through grates, but they cannot swim through solid surfaces. In fact, not even all grates will permit inklings, as there are some drainage grates in Inkopolis plaza which are apparently to tightly wound for inklings to move through them. Also, since inklings need to hold their bodies together in ink, they would have to develop some type of skin, even in squid form. When this skin contacts that of another inkling, the two inklings collide rather than merging.

Inklings can take solid items like dynamo rollers into squid form, but have not been shown to be able to pick up objects on the go. To pick up a large item like the aforementioned dynamo roller would probably require the inkling to actively pull it in by liquefying part of their skin to a greater extent, which sounds complicated.

Also, inklings would naturally not move through a squid made of enemy ink, as both squids would naturally repel one another.
As for friendly squids, the squid form's skin, while not able to maintain solidity on grates with wide spacing, would be able to hold together under contact with another squid, whose skin would form a solid surface.
If they didn't, it could lead to squids accidentally merging into a conjoined twin of sorts... and though it might sound awesome at first, that would be exceedingly awkward for everyone involved.

 

[Flareth]

A quick search for squid-specific diseases doesn't really say much, only that they can be nearsighted and can be hosts for parasitic worms (unsurprisingly).

I refuse to believe that's all they can suffer from, but it doesn't seem like there's much in the way of research on squid disease. I guess this is when copping out and just saying "Oh, they get Squid Flu and Irritable Ink Sac Syndrome" is reasonable.

 

[Globin347]

Inklings may also suffer from ink deficiency and inability to liquidize their bodily tissue, as has been previously mentioned, although these things would be disabilities rather than disease...

 

[BlackZero]

You people laugh, but Ink Bladder Control problems and Scurvy are hella serious.

 

[Globin347]

Scurvy, as in a lack of vitamin C?
Are squids more susceptible to this than humans?

 

[Globin347]

Well, no one said anything today, so I think I'll summarize.

Inkling biology can be described as one point on a continuum between Human-like organisms which can liquefy their body tissues and animated paint that takes a form resembling a more conventional creature. We don't have enough evidence to determine exactly where on the continuum inklings lie.

The North American localization team changed many of the lines because they felt the original lines wouldn't connect with the American audience, while the European and Australian localization teams stayed closer to the source material. While many of the original lines were jokes that non-Japanese have trouble understanding, I won't defend either decision.

Injury works differently towards the fluid side of the fluidity v.s. Solidity scale: Since inklings are made of ink, inklings on the far side of the spectrum may simply need to add more ink, and possibly generate more organic structures to control and hold the ink together. Inklings in the middle of the spectrum still have more conventional organs, and would need to be able to heal those via medicine. Inklings on the solid side of the spectrum have fleshy tissue that can be liquefied, but still needs to be re-grown and repaired if damaged...

regardless of where they lie on the spectrum, however, inklings likely have far greater ability to heal themselves than humans do, and could probably regenerate lost limbs. I believe that oceanic squids can do this, as well.

...in fact, on that line of thought, if the sea cucumbers can spit out their organs and then re-grow them, and since this thread has used sea cucumbers as an example of liquefaction, inklings might even be able to re-grow organs whose loss would be fatal in humans. This process would likely be slow and limiting by itself, but respawn points greatly accelerate the process...

I think I've just found the next topic of this discussion.

Anyway, Inklings don't need to put a whole lot of effort into cleaning themselves, since most of the dirt and grime can be washed off with their inky bodies... cleaning might be more important for inklings near the solid end of the spectrum... or it might not.

Like all animals, inklings are vulnerable to disease. in fact, due to the fact that inklings frequently liquefy their bodies, it might be easier for an inkling to become infected... as a result, inklings would probably have very strong immune systems to combat this. The ink composing their bodies might be able to repel disease to some extent, if the right organic structures were in place, but inklings would probably need more white blood cells than we do.

...Now that I think about it, if the ink generated in an inklings ink contained white blood cells, than std's could be spread simply by playing turf wars, which would be a huge problem for inkling society. Hopefully inklings don't have white blood cells in the ink they shoot.
(Actually, they probably don't. it would be wasteful, and the ink evaporates after a few minutes anyway...)

An inklings tentacles are most likely indeed limbs... but they do not appear to have much use. These tentacles are bulky, and have only one big sucker on them.
this would make it difficult for an inkling to carry small objects with the tentacles, which is why they use their hands for that. They might be able to hit things with them, however.

Of course, if an inkling's tentacles were entirely vestigial, they wouldn't be so big. An inklings tentacles are therefore likely to be very muscular, able to lift larger objects and slap people much harder than an inkling's arms can.

Inklings apparently commercially catch oceanic squid and octopi to turn them into squid and octopus chips for Callie to eat... at least in the Japanese and European versions.

And another question... how and why does inkling ink evaporate? ...perhaps it does this to avoid attracting predators or rotting?
...if the former is true, then what exactly is it that threatened the inklings during their development? and how does the ink itself evaporate instead of simply drying?

 

[Dolphoshi]

I'm going to suggest two things
first that we said that the ink is 4D so it could be that the ink just collapses on it's self but that leaves a lot of holes and even more questions
second (and more likely) is the ink is unstable without some of the things is the body (ei carbon or other elements stored in the body) (this would explain a bit on how the ink hurts other inklings) and likely breaks apart from the oxygen in the air (because oxygen is a very electronegative element) but reactions take time and will have a byproduct on the top protecting the ink below so that is why the oxygen doesn't destroy it on the spot unless a really powerful wind pushes it off the ground (most of the bosses in the single player do this) then it must react quicker because there is more oxygen in the air and the byproduct isn't able to surround the ink so it vanishes, this explains why the ink is always contained in air tight containers (also how the splat bombs and suction bombs explode and also why the mines don't last very long, as well as why most of the inkstrike doesn't end up on the turf) and remember they have a seperate ink ink so that could be where it is stored until it's need to fight inklings (or octolings off with)

 

[Flareth]

Right, so yours is a huge post, so I'm-a try and go thought-by-thought starting with Paragraph 3, yeah?
(Answers in bold.)

Well, no one said anything today, so I think I'll summarize.

...injury works differently towards the fluid side of the fluidity v.s. Solidity scale: Since inklings are made of ink, inklings on the far side of the spectrum may simply need to add more ink, and possibly generate more organic structures to control and hold the ink together. Inklings in the middle of the spectrum still have more conventional organs, and would need to be able to heal those via medicine. Inklings on the solid side of the spectrum have fleshy tissue that can be liquefied, but still needs to be re-grown and repaired if damaged...

regardless of where they lie on the spectrum, however, inklings likely have far greater ability to heal themselves than humans do, and could probably regenerate lost limbs. I believe that oceanic squids can do this, as well.

...in fact, on that line of thought, if the sea cucumbers can spit out their organs and then re-grow them, and since this thread has used sea cucumbers as an example of liquefaction, inklings might even be able to re-grow organs whose loss would be fatal in humans. This process would likely be slow and limiting by itself, but respawn points greatly accelerate the process...

So far as I know, that regeneration process applies only to their arms, and possibly their tentacles too. Now I've heard that research has been done into getting the genes controlling regeneration to work with various other tissues, but that's artificial, not natural.

Perhaps the scientists behind the Squidpeople Creation project (were we really taking that seriously?) spliced in some sea star DNA into the sections that controlled organ/tissue growth, likely after years of research showed that the above was feasible (if rather time consuming).

Anyway, Inklings don't need to put a whole lot of effort into cleaning themselves, since most of the dirt and grime can be washed off with their inky bodies... cleaning might be more important for inklings near the solid end of the spectrum... or it might not.

I can't think of a way to clean ink, nor can I think of a way to clean with it. Google's having trouble finding anything for either, so we're moving on.

Like all animals, inklings are vulnerable to disease. in fact, due to the fact that inklings frequently liquefy their bodies, it might be easier for an inkling to become infected... as a result, inklings would probably have very strong immune systems to combat this. The ink composing their bodies might be able to repel disease to some extent, if the right organic structures were in place, but inklings would probably need more white blood cells than we do.

...Now that I think about it, if the ink generated in an inklings ink contained white blood cells, than std's could be spread simply by playing turf wars, which would be a huge problem for inkling society. Hopefully inklings don't have white blood cells in the ink they shoot.
(Actually, they probably don't. it would be wasteful, and the ink evaporates after a few minutes anyway...)

I'm kinda curious about how the ink, being purely defensive in its original purpose, would over time integrate itself into the immune system. What you're suggesting sounds to me like they wouldn't need white blood cells, since the ink would do that well emough anyway. Perhaps it just eats up anything it doesn't recognize?

An inklings tentacles are most likely indeed limbs... but they do not appear to have much use. These tentacles are bulky, and have only one big sucker on them.
this would make it difficult for an inkling to carry small objects with the tentacles, which is why they use their hands for that. They might be able to hit things with them, however.

Of course, if an inkling's tentacles were entirely vestigial, they wouldn't be so big. An inklings tentacles are therefore likely to be very muscular, able to lift larger objects and slap people much harder than an inkling's arms can.

This is kinda why I'm still struck by the decision to make hair out of them. They're so essential for a squid's everyday life... if they've a purpose still, I can't imagine that the boy Inklings get much use out of 'em.

Inklings apparently commercially catch oceanic squid and octopi to turn them into squid and octopus chips for Callie to eat... at least in the Japanese and European versions.

A bit off-topic, but I'll be honest; when I first read the NoE script, I figured they were talking about potato chips (the UK kind), which made the US version's "I gotta go plant some french fries!" line make more sense to me. I didn't think they meant fried squid rinds.

And another question... how and why does inkling ink evaporate? ...perhaps it does this to avoid attracting predators or rotting?
...if the former is true, then what exactly is it that threatened the inklings during their development? and how does the ink itself evaporate instead of simply drying?

If the ink evaporates, does that hint at some amount of water being present in the ink? How it got there is a mystery, of course, but neither melanin nor mucus seem to evaporate readily. If there is water present, then I guess there's no special reason as to why it does.

Whew, that's one hell of a way to spend a Wednesday night.

 

[Globin347]

...you know, Dolphoshi, your posts are rather hard to read. You should separate your posts into separate sentences and short paragraphs.

I'm going to suggest two things
first that we said that the ink is 4D so it could be that the ink just collapses on it's self but that leaves a lot of holes and even more questions

That the ink is 4D was mentioned earlier, but I see nothing wrong with restating it. I don't think that the ink can collapse on itself, however.
While on the subject, i suspect that ink stretches farther into the 4th dimension if there is more of it. There might be some equation giving ink depth a relationship with ink surface area, but We aren't able to find the equation itself.

second (and more likely) is the ink is unstable without some of the things is the body (ei carbon or other elements stored in the body) (this would explain a bit on how the ink hurts other inklings) and likely breaks apart from the oxygen in the air (because oxygen is a very electronegative element) but reactions take time and will have a byproduct on the top protecting the ink below so that is why the oxygen doesn't destroy it on the spot unless a really powerful wind pushes it off the ground (most of the bosses in the single player do this) then it must react quicker because there is more oxygen in the air and the byproduct isn't able to surround the ink so it vanishes, this explains why the ink is always contained in air tight containers (also how the splat bombs and suction bombs explode and also why the mines don't last very long, as well as why most of the inkstrike doesn't end up on the turf) and remember they have a seperate ink ink so that could be where it is stored until it's need to fight inklings (or octolings off with)

That the ink reacts with oxygen would explain why the ink evaporates, although it causes a number of other problems; specifically, why inklings themselves don't evaporate.

I find it hard to imagine how ink could form a protective coating due to reactions with oxygen, have that coating taken off, and then not form a second coating.

Of course, the idea that inklings have organic structures holding their bodies together is something I have proposed before, and actually forms most of the mid-region of the fluidity vs solidity spectrum. I never used those exact words, of course, but the idea remains nearly the same.

Anyway, you mentioned the idea that the ink reacts with enemy ink. I find it difficult to describe.... but I agree and disagree with this statement at the same time.

I don't think ink is particularly reactive: otherwise, it would do some damage to whatever it touched. When the ink covers grass, concrete, metal, and plastic, these things are not corroded by said ink. On the flip side, ink would have to have some reaction with ink of a different color, or inklings could not be splatted by enemy ink.

Given that inklings are able to walk in enemy ink until they tire, I expect that part of the reason that ink weaponry is effective against inklings is because it is combined with physical force.

it seems that ink has the ability to tear ink-based constructs apart, but it cannot seem to damage anything else.

I'm not sure I can adequately explain this...

It seems that ink does have some tendency to dissolve other ink. this would suggest a difference in structure between different colors of ink, but inklings can change color with no apparent side effects. It may be that ink does contain organic structures which attack foreign ink.

i feel like I'm just filling this post with the same information repeatedly, so I'm moving on.

Perhaps the scientists behind the Squidpeople Creation project (were we really taking that seriously?) spliced in some sea star DNA into the sections that controlled organ/tissue growth, likely after years of research showed that the above was feasible (if rather time consuming).

I'm actually not sure how seriously we were taking that. why not start a poll?

All the contributors to this post should state how seriously they are taking the idea of squid creationism by humans? I think it needs some in-game evidence before we can base our speculation on it, but it would explain how such a bizarre species appeared in such a short time.

Humanity doesn't necessarily have to have finished the project, however. They may have simply created some organism which had the right biological structures to evolve into inklings... perhaps as part of some research on tissue regrowth and change?

...the alternate humanity's fault theory is a combination of nuclear waste and people who don't understand how nuclear radiation works.

I'm kinda curious about how the ink, being purely defensive in its original purpose, would over time integrate itself into the immune system. What you're suggesting sounds to me like they wouldn't need white blood cells, since the ink would do that well enough anyway. Perhaps it just eats up anything it doesn't recognize?

Ink obviously doesn't corrode inanimate objects... or at least, not visibly. But the idea that ink tries to eat foreign substances might explain why inklings can be splatted via foreign ink. If this is the case, then you are right; ink itself might function like white blood cells. I hadn't really considered this before now. Ink would probably try to dissolve ink with different biological identification markers or whatever. when inklings change color, they also change their bodily identification markers to match those of their teammates- probably with the help of said teammates, as it would be difficult to match markers with someone when you don't know what their markers look like (figuratively- they would be microscopic, I'm sure).

Come to think of it, that sounds a great deal like ant pheromones. why didn't we draw that connection before?

anyway, this idea states that ink acts as white blood cells, which means that turf wars would be able to spread the inkling equivalent of HIV/AIDS (in which the immune system itself is attacked, preventing it from protecting the body from other diseases.) ...that's a little scary.

This is kinda why I'm still struck by the decision to make hair out of them. They're so essential for a squid's everyday life... if they've a purpose still, I can't imagine that the boy Inklings get much use out of 'em.

You're right- those tentacles aren't in a position to be of much use, and the fact that male inklings often tie them up reinforces this. In theory, they could be used to carry objects large enough to be held by the sucker, but I don't think most inklings carry things like that very often.

Perhaps a more likely use of these tentacles is as a way to catch the attention of the opposite sex, like the bright, vibrant feathers of many birds.

And perhaps they could also be used as a predator decoy- many animals are able to intentionally detach one of their limbs to distract predators. Since inklings don't use their tentacles for much, they would be free to shed them to escape a predator.

If the ink evaporates, does that hint at some amount of water being present in the ink? How it got there is a mystery, of course, but neither melanin nor mucus seem to evaporate readily. If there is water present, then I guess there's no special reason as to why it does.

I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to say here. All ink and paint contains water, and all living things need it. Even if inklings lie on the very end of the fluid side of the spectrum, they would still need water to prevent themselves from drying.

The issue with falling in water is that this gives the inklings too much water, and their bodies disassociate.

Inklings would probably have to spit ink in water before drinking, although this whole issue is meaningless if inklings are on the solid end of the spectrum.

 

[Flareth]

I'm actually not sure how seriously we were taking that. why not start a poll? All the contributors to this post should state how seriously they are taking the idea of squid creationism by humans? I think it needs some in-game evidence before we can base our speculation on it, but it would explain how such a bizarre species appeared in such a short time.

Humanity doesn't necessarily have to have finished the project, however. They may have simply created some organism which had the right biological structures to evolve into inklings... perhaps as part of some research on tissue regrowth and change?

I don't believe I have the power to make such a poll. That's for @Paragon-Yoshi to make, if he's up for it.

I personally doubt that's the reason, for the 12,000 year evolution, but my best alternative is that the forerunners of the Inklings had already been developing for some time before humanity went extinct. Most likely, they were in either the second or third stage shown here...

Come to think of it, that sounds a great deal like ant pheromones. why didn't we draw that connection before?

Pardon me, I'm not too familiar with ants. Could you elaborate?

anyway, this idea states that ink acts as white blood cells, which means that turf wars would be able to spread the inkling equivalent of HIV/AIDS (in which the immune system itself is attacked, preventing it from protecting the body from other diseases.) ...that's a little scary.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. Remember, in Turf Wars the ink comes from the Inklings' ink tanks, not from the Inklings themselves.
At any rate, an Inkling Immunodeficiency Virus could probably kill the affected Inkling much more quickly than HIV if it's as aggressive as we're postulating.

Perhaps a more likely use of these tentacles is as a way to catch the attention of the opposite sex, like the bright, vibrant feathers of many birds.

Hmm... he with the biggest tentacles wins? Suddenly I feel a bit uncomfortable... (I kid, I kid.)

And perhaps they could also be used as a predator decoy- many animals are able to intentionally detach one of their limbs to distract predators. Since inklings don't use their tentacles for much, they would be free to shed them to escape a predator.

Octopods do that, if I'm not mistaken. Predator attacks, the arm comes off, and its limited intelligence compells it to wriggle about while the octopus inks & gets away. Do squid arms/tentacles work the same way?

I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to say here.

Yeah, I was't thinking too carefully with this part. Feel free to ignore it.

 

[Globin347]

Pardon me, I'm not too familiar with ants. Could you elaborate?

Ah, yes. I should elaborate.
And forgive me, but i may get a few details wrong. I'm not an entomologist. I did, however, do a bit of research before making this post.

pheromones are chemicals released by animals to communicate with one another by smell.

But anyway, ants recognize one another by smell. Ants release pheromones to identify which colony their from. if the tunnel guards encounter an ant with the wrong pheromones, they won't let it inside the colony.

but it goes further than that. Ants can secrete a variety of different pheromones to give different signals. One smell, for instance, means "the colony is under attack", and another might mean "there is food at the end of the scent trail I left".

Ants find food by sending a scout to go hunt it out. The scout leaves a trail of pheromones to the food, which the soldier ants will follow when she comes back.

And of course, pheromones are not unique to ants; many animals use them. Even us humans have pheromones; We can subconsciously let other people know how we are feeling by the way we smell. Human pheromones can also have effects on our behavior: for instance, the scent of female tears causes reduced sex drive in men. This here article has more about human pheromones, and this article has more about ant pheromones.

..Now that I think about it, this isn't actually anywhere near as relevant to the topic at hand as I thought it was.
Forget all this pheromone stuff and just hear this: Inklings and their ink contain identifying proteins, and inkling ink will attempt to destroy any ink that does not have matching proteins. That's what I was trying to say.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. Remember, in Turf Wars the ink comes from the Inklings' ink tanks, not from the Inklings themselves.
At any rate, an Inkling Immunodeficiency Virus could probably kill the affected Inkling much more quickly than HIV if it's as aggressive as we're postulating.

I was actually pretty sure that an inkling's ink tank has an apparatus to hook into an inkling's body and drain ink out of the ink sac, presumably because it's more convenient in some way to hook the weapons up to an ink tank than directly to the inklings ink sac. Sunken Scroll # 5 probably wouldn't mention the inkling's ink sac if they didn't use it for combat in some way. Also, I don't think the tank has any means of creating ink.

Hmm... he with the biggest tentacles wins? Suddenly I feel a bit uncomfortable... (I kid, I kid.)

Well, this may not be entirely relevant, but both in Splatoon and real life, female squids have larger tentacles...
We probably shouldn't take this much farther.

 

[redacteddd]

My theory as to why Inklings wear ink tanks to battle is that the tanks function as a safety mechanism to prevent them from drawing too much ink from their bodies and significantly weakening.

 

[Joseph Staleknight]

That makes perfect sense, actually. Can't have any incidents where the squiddos go overboard with the ink and be reduced to a dry, wrinkly husk of themselves!

 

[Dolphoshi]

...you know, Dolphoshi, your posts are rather hard to read. You should separate your posts into separate sentences and short paragraphs.

lol sorry I will try that
i think that the ink on the inkling has a different structure then the ink they spray otherwise yes they would be reacting to the oxygen in the air (simliar on how a snake will keep it's poisons away from the body) inklings do have an ink sac so the ink they shoot must be different from the ink in the body

I also think that different colors of ink is some type of blood type, as blood types are different proteins on the surface of a blood cell and the blood will have proteins to counter other blood types

This would explain why inklings of the same color don't get hurt by team ink it's because they have the same ink type and why different colors hurt each other because they have different ink types and the inklings can change that at will (how, why I have no idea)