Piscine wyvern ecology : Jyuratodus and Cephadrome in Monster Hunter

[@grantowens7537]

Actually, I have a really special relationship with Cephadrome, as it was actually the first EVER monster Hunter monster I’d ever seen. I still remember being ten years old, and seeing the strange hammerhead-like shark face staring back at me from my recommendations back on my grandparents’ old desktop. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the guy.

[@mudshrooze]

Love this story :) mine was Barroth. Like the first one I ever noticed

[@fornamessake]

@@mudshrooze Mine was Barioth lol

[@BoneReaperLagiallosaurus]

Mine was Lagiacrus

[@asaltytrooper]

Mine was actually Kushala Daora

[@mango4723]

Gobul -__-

[@henrydalton1118]

While the piscene wyverns hunts might be kinda lame for the most part, they are still some of my favorite monsters. Their designs are just so cool and interesting.

[@draw2death421]

Id say that Old Lavasioth, Jyuratodus and Beotodus are fine. Mayby even MH3U Plesioth partly but yeah screw Cephadrome and the MHW Lavasioth lol.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

They are, let's hope 6th gen comes good on the fight aspect!

[@jurassicarkjordanisgreat1778]

@@draw2death421 I love beotodus. I heard Jyura got an upgrade in rise.

[@draw2death421]

@@jurassicarkjordanisgreat1778 indeed he did. Hes much faster and gets knocked out less often. Hes dive attack is also much faster and his roar acxually does someting

[@Wizard_Lizard_]

Beotodus is the only one that isn't annoying to fight. And tbh, it's pretty fun to hunt.

[@juanisol8275]

I love how to complement the biological facts with the speculation of this universe of monsters and hunters. Analyzing, criticizing and expressing your opinions through audiovisual narratives elaborating iconic bestiaries! Nice to start the new year with a fishy monster, means a lot from many differents cultures and have many symbolism! Happy Holidays!!

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you, and happy holidays to you too!

[@leonardorovini584]

The Piscine wyvern are probably the most interesting category of creatures in the monster hunter world, after all although they look like wyverns with fish traits they are actually fish that have developed similar characteristics to those of wyverns (this information is given in one of the pimi art books of the series), after all in the category of the Piscine Wyvern there are the sleep fish (as the closest relative of the Ancent Serpent), the Arowana burst and the Scatterfish; therefore it would be interesting to see a wyvern swimming pool that is the distance between its category and the amphibians, perhaps with a model reminiscent of the Climbing Joyperch. Ah there is a MHR "correction" to be done or in any case the games of the portable series are set in the same time line as those of the main series such as MHW or MH3, this is also further confirmed in the new art book of MHR where in the paragraph of the Pukei pukei it is pointed out that those present in the Kamura region do not change color of the plumage depending on the man, like those encountered in the new world and therefore the stodiosi think that the Kamura pukei pukei have abandoned their original habitat.

[@TsulaAngenati2292]

I wonder if it’s the reverse where piscine wyverns are actually the ancestors of the wyverns we know today, as in, they are the amphibians for the flying wyverns

[@delmerputnam1679]

Finally, Jyura doesn’t get shit on! Thank you my man. I’m a bit surprised cephadrome’s paralytic fins wasn’t mentioned. My personal theory is that it’s a holdover from a more aquatic existence, since apparently one of the deserts used to be an ocean. Perhaps the ancestors of cephalos were aquatic, but something akin to an angel shark

[@draw2death421]

Agreed! He gets way too much hate! I think his a great monster in Rise and his fight goes smooth in the flooded forest.

[@thewolfofcomedy5966]

It’s also possible that the paralytic spines are an adaptation against flying wyverns. It’s harder to get snatched up by a Rathian or Seregios when you’re covered in pointy bits

[@Sarcasmosuchus]

@@draw2death421 Totally agree, it's a shame it didn't get any interaction with Almudron or Royal Ludroth, as its only iconic turf war can't take place in Rise

[@draw2death421]

@@Sarcasmosuchus man i hate that people keep calling almudron a better Jyuratoudus... part of me hopes that Almudron gets a lava subspecies and instead of mud he throws lava at you but someting tells me that people whould just hate on piscines even more and call allmudron better than both Jyuratodus and Lavasioth in that case... smh

[@Sarcasmosuchus]

@@draw2death421 It is quite sad sure, as even tho I love Almudron I don't really get everyone's obsession to compare them.. If we did that for the rest of the cast every thunder monster would essentially be the same, but because it's piscine wyverns we're talking about the standards tend to start pretty low

[@thewolfofcomedy5966]

Another great video! I always felt like the piscine wyverns were monsters with great ideas, but bad execution. The idea of fighting land-fish that utilize the ground as liquid to fight the player is very cool and imaginative, but the fights have always ranged from either boring to infuriating. I appreciate that 5th gen seems to be changing this though with Iceborne’s Beotodus or Rise’s Jyuratodus

[@draw2death421]

Yeah. Tho i think MHGenU Lavasioth was solid

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you! And yeah it seems it took five generations but we may finally be at ok to good piscine fights.

[@kennethsatria6607]

Beotodus is fuckin majestic to me, easily the prettiest fish in World

[@dilophosaurussk4333]

Honestly Jyuratodus is definitely in my top 5. He is a very bro-tier monster, dangerous enough to be an actual challenge, but not annoying or too demanding of a fight. Whenever im tired of grinding Diablos i just hop down to the watering hole to see my mucky boi and have a chill, fun fight.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Chill fights are underrated in a series increasingly striving for world-ending demigods.

[@anthonygorman94]

I might seem weird, but I genuinely like the Jyuratodus armor set. Maybe because its one of the easiest farms, but I do love the fight.

[@theskullboy8700]

Considering the alternatives with a similar shape. I’ll gladly take our muddy boy

[@Ed_man_talking9]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel one idea for a non monster hunter video i've been brewing in my head is to look at the real world cryptids and hypothesize how they can realistically exist in our world. one creature i have in mind is the Wompus cat, a six legged feline. how does a mamal evolve an extra set of legs? is it a mamal or a mamal looking reptile? are the extra legs really legs or are they some other mistaken appendage?

[@TheSpeculativeDoodl]

I love jyuratodus, but I think I like nibelsnarf more.

[@eser8167]

Honey wake up, pissing wyvern documentary just dropped!!

[@kelambrown4033]

An interesting thing to note about piscine wyverns is besides a handful of elder dragons they are the only vertebrates in the game which have more than 4 limbs. Especially looking at lavisioth and jyuratodus who have 4 extra limbs on their back which makes me believe that the 6 limbed elder dragons likely originated from some sort of piscine relative but thats solely a theory. I also found it rather interesting counting the digits on the wings of elder dragons and unsurprisingly vaal hazak, valstrax, and kushala daora have the same number of digits with the 5th one extending from the elbow joint of the wing however valstrax only has a vestigial elbow spike. One last thing to note about elder dragon evolutionary relationships is that nergigante, safijiva and fatalis all have 5 wing digits while alatroen only has 4, nergigante and safi are both energy feeders with nerg having to steal bioenergy from other elder dragons to power its rapid regeneration ability while safi has broken the system and absorbs the bioenergy directly from its surroundings to power its regeneration abilities. Fatalis on the other hand is not shown feeding so its rather difficult to pin down its diet. Sorry for the long winded post but I cake to this conclusion awhile ago and wanted to bounce it off of you before the comment section got filled.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

The piscine to elder theory is one a few others have thought of too, especially as the taxonomic status of piscine wyverns is a little murky with the series unable to decide if they're actually fish or wyverns or not. But it could be quite possible, as Jyuratodus is said to have barely changed from its fossil relatives.

[@kakashihatake326]

All Elder Dragons are descendants of White Fatalis not fish lmao

[@toothandclaw4347]

@@kakashihatake326 false, you’re wrong, because you said it so confidently like it’s fact, when we don’t really know anything

[@toothandclaw4347]

This makes sense, elder dragons could be fish bois

[@TsulaAngenati2292]

Piscine wyverns might (to an extent) be related to the ancestor of all wyverns. A group of piscine wyverns probably became amphibians which would lead to leviathans, fanged wyverns, and fanged beast while another group of “flying” piscine wyverns became the main flying wyvern family we’ve come to love which would lead to bird wyverns and then brute wyverns. The Six finned piscine wyverns then probably lead to the common elder dragon form with the Magala and Valstrax frames being derived forms

[@treadingwater86]

7:38 This has actually happened, an episode of River Monsters that centered around various parasites showed an interview with someone who did have a candiru swim up the urine-stream and into his urethra. He has to get it surgically removed and was even shown the fish later in the episode. Not the best source perhaps, but I am sure that there are more stories like his out there.

[@bobisuncanny2760]

I was shocked how in mhstories 2,Roberto did say that Plesioth and cephadrome actually fight for territory.Even if it's stories,that means that piscine wyvern are territorial even with other piscine wyvern + that they share almost the same niche among the desert: Oasis(it's still a theory tho)

[@nestrior7733]

I expect Cephalos to stick close-ish to their Drome for scavenging purposes. This way, they gain access to much larger prey without having to expend much energy on hunting themselves. Cephadrome on the other hand likely allows this as it enables a herding kind of hunting style similar to the other pack Wyverns. Without many ways for the prey to break out, Cephadrome can close the distance. I'd have to look up the feeding frenzy, but it might be an example of a similar strategy where the prey is simply swarmed with no route to escape. This might sound a bit too coordinated for such an asocial union, but I imagine it being the result of a simple "follow the largest" type of behaviour with the pack corresponding to the Drome's size and success rate, bringing me back to my original thought. Where there is a large Drome, there are a large amount of leftovers that attract more Cephalos leading to the Drome being able to hunt bigger prey more effectively. The counterbalance to this comes when the Cephadrome attacks something far beyond its capabilites. The Drome is the only real attacking force against such large prey and so the Cephalos simply disperse once it falls. I can also see Cephalos that are without a Drome to predate each other should their numbers exceed a certain point. This cuts down on competition and allows the predating male to grow larger than its peers, giving rise to a new Drome

[@nervaaugustus7089]

I wouldn't say it's coordinated. It's just the Cephalos swarming a downed victim in an attack of opportunity. The Cephadrome allows this, because it weakens the prey and makes a kill easier.

[@nestrior7733]

@@nervaaugustus7089 I didn't mean that they are actually coordinating. Just that it sounds like that from what I was describing. Cause I am 100% with you. I expect the most coordination Cephalos exhibit to be something like "follow the largest" (aka the Drome). The rest is just a result of a large amount of predators swarming very few potential prey animals. With some Dromes attacking a too big target, only to end up dead with the Cephalos just going their own way after. It's not coordination as such, but could easily look that way to the layman.

[@edryu9688]

Man, every time I watch one of your videos I always end up wanting to watch the others. I think one of the main reasons piscine wyverns get a bad rep is cuz their whole gimmick tends to be avoiding the player, between diving in whatever substrate they inhabit or just spacing themselves away as Cephadrome and beotodus do, or in Plesioth's case just being too far to hit until it feels like coming on land.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Yup, and it was absolutely painful in the earlier games especially. Luckily they're a lot more aggressive now, and hopefully can be reworked to be even better too. And thanks!

[@victory8928]

I think the reasons Jyura gets shit on so much is because it is inbetween Barroth and monsters like Tobi and Anja, followed by Lavasioth later on. The fact that it directly comes after a mud monster and then is followed up by what is basically its reskin (although I say lavasioth is worse of a fight than Jyura although not all too bad) as for new mechanics I would argue no as it is important to understand that both jyura and barioth have similar mud mechanics but Barroths seems more fleshed out as it also affected certain attacks done by the brute while it is just a damage buff and change of appearance in Jyura, at least in comparison, Lavasioth has a part break and a heat mechanic with its armour. Plus there is also the fact that it is the only water monster (not counting barroth but barroth is a bit in the air in base world) in base world and thus kinda felt more off as the player has no other reference for other water monsters (similar to Legi in a way) so people need to grind it for those weapons and thus are happy to move to kulve for their water weapons, plus water element was done a massive disservice in how it was portrayed as a good choice by the notebook when it is one of the best general elements for hunts, especially as a secondary source of damage, plus the difference in water and ice blight feel not very different in my experience, so it makes the difference seem more of a one off thing. Then when more water monsters came in, it was quickly overshadowed by them as they had more added mechanics and designs that didn’t look like a fish covered in mud, which is something I am fine with but some people don’t like in particular. It is a bit more of an unfortunate situation, if Jyura was the only piscine in the game, it probably would stand out and be more unique in a way, especially since lava is such a ripoff of it that is of a higher tier and thus people have more of a chance to fight and like it. I know as lavasioth was one of the monsters I farmed decos from early on in base world a lot.

[@maochi3257]

Finally I just find people who give a love for Jyuratodus a Coelacanth that swim through a muddy swamp is such a solid design. I have interest about ecology of an Endemic life in World and Rise too how small creatures living alongside monsters and wyverns.

[@scorpiopede]

Really great recap, I'm surprised at how plausible the sand swimming for Cephalos might actually be, since part of me felt the sand swimming was something that just felt exaggerated. Still, actually really love these two design wise and for their ecologies, and despite them being universally hated when it comes to fighting, I don't mind either of them, at least in the 4th gen games for Cephadrome specifically. The more I hear about the Piscenes the more unsure I am of where they fit in the greater taxonomic tree of Monster Hunter.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Are they fish, or actual wyverns? Not even Capcom seems decided...

[@scorpiopede]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel Oh actually another point I just remembered! I'm surprised you didn't address the seemingly high level of intelligence Cephadrome displays in the 4U intro, where it knocks a charging Diablos into the pillar where the hunter with the Bow was perched, knocking him off and making him vulnerable to attack.

[@purplehaze2358]

I have a fondness for Cephadromes because I actually knew about them before Monster Hunter through an old Minecraft mod called Orespawn.

[@DawnTyrantEo]

Something worth noting with Jyuratodus- he's likely based on lungfish, which also have dental plates, and have been feeding durophagously for roughly as long as four-legged animals have been alive. They have the relatively round head, long body, lobed fins and paddle-shaped tail of Jyura as well! So being some sort of giant secondarily-predatory lungfish-wyvern evolving from a much smaller lungfish-wyvern would make sense, and if lobe-finned fish are also 'living fossils' in the Monster Hunter universe, then it could be an explanation for Lavasioth's habitat- much like how ancient lobe-finned fish like coelacanths survive in the extreme, low-competition conditions of the deep sea, Lavasioth's incredibly harsh environment could let him avoid competition with ray-finned piscine wyverns.

[@maddockemerson4603]

*P I S S S C E N E* Seriously though, I really like your speculations on the function of cephalos anatomy. It always bugged me how unlike the species is to most burrowing animals with its long and splayed out appendages and figured it was just 1st gen stretching that wyvern skeleton to its absolute limits, but the notion that the hammerhead softens the sand and the wings keep the legs streamlined makes a lot of sense to me. It reminds me that I have an early game character in MHF who needed to grind Cephadrome for the Medium Monster Bones last time I had the game on, and now I really feel like starting up that game and getting into it. 1st gen has a nice mood overall too and I wish newer games would be as mellow.

[@jamescampbell4416]

This is quite some fishy business :P in al seriousness I wasn’t expecting these two being talked about now but I’m all for it. I also want to ask, with it’s greater size, would cephadrome attack or run from seregios because it is a threat to cephalos?

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I think Cephadrome would likely have a go at Seregios, and regret it after a bloody mouthful of broken scales. Seregios may well counter attack too, although actually killing cephadrome would be quite hard considering they're larger than rathalos.

[@draw2death421]

Cephalos whould probably end up attacking seregious and then after realingsing what he did he whould quickly dive into the sands.

[@Goji-Moji]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel Rathalos on average (17.1m, though with slight variance depending on locale) exceed the length of an average fully grown Cephadrome (16.8m), and are substantially more bulky besides, as well as possessing huge wings that would add significantly to body mass-Seregios further outspans Rathalos, with the center distribution length of 17.3m. Flying wyverns are of course also known for incredibly hard, thick shells, which are not something Cephadrome is known for. Given the speed, ostensibly possessing a far more active and power generating metabolism than Cephadrome, superior weaponry and faster reflexes, I suspect a Cephadrome would be very much better suited avoiding Seregios (or a Rathalos if it came across one) at all costs. Whereas a Rathalos has its thick scales and shell to protect it from Seregios's claws, Cephadrome has very little defense, and would quickly get shredded, I think. For reference (I'm only not linking images of my findings since KZbin tends to automatically delete my posts with links for some reason... but I will happily if requested) volumetric analysis of the models of 16.77m Cephadrome and a 17.11m 3U-model Rathalos give them body volumes of around 23m^3 and 40m^3 respectively; Rathalos being nearly twice the size by volume, and presumably by weight. Seregios is almost the exact same volume as Rathalos despite different proportions. Jyuratodus, on the other hand, is incredibly chunky, and at the average length of 15.08m it has a body volume (not including the mud clinging to it) of ~43m^3. 5th Gen (World/Rise) Rathalos is *substantially* bulkier for its length compared to older models however, as well as having far larger wings, having a body volume of ~55m^3 at the average length of 17.04m, and still much larger than Jyuratodus. Curiously Lavasioth seems to have among the most exaggerated regional differences among all Piscine wyverns. Despite being a truly large monster in World, it was considerably longer (and taller) prior, and has large size differences in other games, and may be considered the largest Piscine Wyvern over Plesioth by displacement in some locales. Of course there's also significant question of its density, given it's chosen medium of lava as opposed to Plesioth's underwater lifestyle. Buoyancy may not be as important in a liquid as viscous as lava, but higher density tissues would certainly help it force its way through. If its density can be compared to molten rock, then it's easily the heaviest Piscine wyvern.

[@namealreadytaken7116]

I always felt that the piscine wyvern design could have been better since they just feel like the same design but in snow or mud since fish in real life are one of the most diverse animals.With their colors how many fish have evolved into something totally different from the other and how their odd looking and beautiful and weird fish can be but this is just my opinion.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Yeah, I think the current batch are ok but I'd like them to become a lot more diverse in future games and stop being just the same animal but in a different substrate

[@mudshrooze]

Fair point

[@EnraiChannel]

I guess since we don't have underwater combat anymore, the piscine wyverns kind of fell to a lot of similarities. But I will never forgive lavasioth stealing agnaktor's gimmick.

[@ryanadolfi4007]

One of my favorite channels at the moment! You've got a fantastic way of keeping my attention throughout these videos. Thanks so much for doing what you do. :-)

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

And thank you for your kind words and for watching!

[@antoinerossouw9533]

Piscine Wyverns are fascinating, and this video really helped me understand this family of wyverns better. They have always confused me slightly, as we don't have that many real world analogues to this type of creature.

[@rraveboy9431]

on the topic of brittle scales, in mhst2, the description of low rank Plesioth scales say that they become brittle if dried out as well. not sure about all the other piscines, but at the very least it’s shared with Plesioth !

[@rraveboy9431]

another thing about this though, the description of high rank Plesioth scales don’t say they become brittle in the sun, but begin to sheen in some way. maybe especially tough Plesioth can survive in say, a desert oasis during a “low tide”

[@abbewinter9249]

I honestly really love Jyura. I'm a new-comer to the monster hunter scene, so it was actually the first picene I ever encountered. The pure surprise and delight I felt when this big ol fish *stood up on its big fish legs* was immeasurable. Absolutely wild.

[@SylvesterAshcroft88]

I actually quite like Jyuratodus, and it was actually pretty useful for farming for mid game materials, and was also a good monster to farm in master rank as well, and felt like it filled a similar space to Royal Ludroth in Tri, which was pretty fun to fight as well.

[@EiggyRules]

Cool video! While I still haaate having to fight the Cephadrome, this really has helped me respect their design.

[@mango4723]

They’re not my favourite monsters, but it’s nice to see these two getting some love!

[@alligatoreamericano3520]

19:56 now i REALLY want to hear your thoughts about Frontier's... Questionable design philosphy, possibly in an hour long rant video featuring magnamalo

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I do want to do a design video at somepoint!

[@alligatoreamericano3520]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel YES YES YES YES YES

[@reshi606]

The design philosophy of Frontier is combat and fun over realism which is a completely valid direction for them to have gone in. You really have to appreciate how they managed to balance an over the top moveset with over the top monsters, something the main series hasn't been able to achieve in recent games, especially 5th gen.

[@The_PokeSaurus]

Ah, a good first video for the year. I've been sick the past week and this video made my day a lot better.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Glad it helped, get well soon!

[@thechameleos6334]

I'd like to add a single correction. Hard Core Cephalos from Frontier is specifically described to work with its pack to corral hunters in for big heavy hits.

[@jasonarreguin1047]

Agree on Cephalodrome being the worst fight. Him or blangonga. Great video, I've been binging all your videos since I've found the channel

[@CrushingGrizzly98]

As someone who's first monster Hunter game was world mudfish while not an overly inspiring creature I did enjoy its fight and still do but lavafish I can go either way

[@CrushingGrizzly98]

But it would have been interesting to have both mudfish and sandfish in the same environment and seeing how they would have interacted with each other

[@losingmymind611]

From what I remember there was an actual case if the candiru catfish swimming up a man's penis while he pissed in the river and had to be surgically removed. The guy and the hospital he had surgery at were featured on Jeremy Wade's River Monsters.

[@jesuskuuun8044]

I really enjoy these monster hunter ecology vids

[@christosgiannopoulos828]

Oh man a new video. And it's about piscine wyverns. I was waiting for this

[@Never_at_All]

Nice, I was able to catch it early. Also I don't think I've heard about the 'Rise being a different Timeline' before.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Ichinose both brought it up and then canonised it in an interview for some reason.

[@bobisuncanny2760]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel it's stupid cuz it's actually make sense if mhw monsters migrated to old world due to the overlack monsters In a sense mhr should be just after mhwi

[@Never_at_All]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel Neat, I didn't know that. Kinda wacc tbh

[@MegaGeewee]

I feel like the problem that most people had, at least it's the one I had anyway, is that Jyura was the only water monster in World. If you needed a water weapon for going after a monster, you needed to hunt the fish of "why is this so easy" like 80 times. I was really bored after the second bout, let alone the 10th.

[@himbolover69]

Doesn't Kulu have water weapons as well? Same sort of situation but I swear Jyura wasn't the only one

[@dtaggartofRTD]

especially if you were forging more than one weapon type. if you needed a water weapon, it probably came from Jyuratodus' tree and required at least two kills per tier. Pretty much everyone ended up hunting a LOT of them. Even good fights get repetitive after a while.

[@EnraiChannel]

It also felt like it had too much hp for it's rank, so the battle while being really easy felt like a drag. The only fun redeeming point as a fight mudslioth has is his vulnerability to stun.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

Can you please do a ecology video on Nargacuga next? It's a genuinely fascinating creature in my opinion It's a shame we never get to see Nargacuga cubs lol

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

There's always the depressing NHC video that has them! Narg won't be next as I want to wait for the IB book, but he's in the lineup for sure.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel What about the giant arachnid Nercylla? I find it unbelievable how an arachnid could grow to such an enormous size, and also how frighteningly stealthy and quick it is for such a large creature

[@elivcdxv1852]

@@unicorntomboy9736 Heyo, might be a bit late, but it's out if you haven't seen it yet!

[@omegapumkin9702]

Honestly I've been watching and rewatching all your videos and honestly I'm love them and they have resparked my love for the franchise

[@user-cc9kx8tw6t]

Yeah, I agree I think Cephadrome's design is pretty great, shame the fight isn't very fun. Design wise, its actually my favorite of the Piscine Wyverns. Something about the Diplocaulus head and the sand swimming behavior makes it stand out to me amongst the other Piscine Wyverns. Also, I'm glad you decided to talk about Jyura too. Not my favorite fight or design but it definitely gets a bit too much hate. As always, another fantastic video! There aren't many channels that try to explain the ecology of MH so it's really appreciated. And yeah, I'm excited to see the new information from the Iceborne book, there's definitely going to be some exciting ecologies to uncover from it. On a side note, have you heard of the MH Rise book as well? BannedLagiacrus tweeted some interesting facts regarding some of the newer monsters based off information from the book. Once it releases in english, perhaps this could biologically explain Rise's monsters and fulfill the ecologies missing from the game.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I've heard of the Rise book although I'm unsure if it'll ever get an english release. I'm unsure if it was quite as indepth as the World one from what I've seen thus far, but if nothing else some of the info should hopefully be usable. And thank you!

[@prawn1717]

Wonderful, I was just scrolling through your channel hoping for an upload! In any case, I think my issue with the Piscine Wyverns boils down to this; one of the most incredible and diverse factions of animals out there being reduced to three reskins and arguably the two worst fights in the series, in Plesioth and Cephadrome. I actually adore mudskippers and the sandfish skink both, so I really wouldn't mind if it were JUST Jyuratodas and they reworked Cephadrome, but Beotodus and Lavasioth range from forgettable to downright abhorrent (and I'm aware that Lavasioth came first but I like both its derivatives more). As far as Cephadrome and Plesioth are concerned, I only wish Cephadrome had a more colorful design to match its real world counterpart, as well as a massive overhaul to its fight. Plesioth is a weird one to talk about because on the one hand it's...kind of awful, fight wise at least. And on the other, it's such a silly monster I almost don't want to see it changed. I feel as though if they took away its legs or improved its hitbox, it almost wouldn't be as fun of an encounter. The entire classification just seems like a mess, and it might genuinely be the biggest reason for my vehement support of Underwater Combat in 6, especially considering the opportunity to add that Piscene ancestor in one form or another. That's another problem too, every one of the Piscene Wyverns is a low to low/mid tier monster, and it just makes them look super pathetic. Ugh anyways, rant over, but thank you again for the video! I wasn't aware of Jyura's parasitic habits or that the Sandfish uses unorthodox movement rather than just having less friction on its scales, interesting stuff. Also Goss for the next pick! I actually had trouble figuring out that roar, Barioth and Savage Jho sounded close but no dice.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Yeah, that's a very good point. The piscines feel like the same fight multiple times. When you look at the moveset diversity in flying wyverns you can't help but feel cheated. Actually creatives piscines are a nice hope for the future.

[@prawn1717]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel Exactly, in a world where Rathalos, Seregios, Diablos and Akantor can all be flying wyverns, it feels off to not have more diversity in fish. I mean, seriously, there are real world fish that ALREADY have a sword for a nose, Capcom's job has basically been done for them!

[@mango4723]

@@prawn1717 they made two fire-breathing dinosaurs with a Great Sword for a tail and then gave one of them not just a deviant, but a subspecies, and they haven’t made a sword fish yet?

[@bobisuncanny2760]

"Your lack of sub-title is disturbing me" -Darth vader Anyway my english is getting better and better. Thx to you, cuz it's easier to learn a language throughout my passion : MH(Lore MH video are my favorites) I've also heard about your collab with zal ;)

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I did try to put them in this time, unsure why they didn't work. Will see if I can edit it! And I'm glad it they help too, I try to speak slower in the videos for anyone who doesn't have english as a first language.

[@diousthomas8878]

I have have some theory’s and explanations on Deviljho’s mouth The reason why Deviljho’s mouth is like what it is, is because it is supposed to be a combination of sharp and blunt force damage with Deviljho swinging and bashing his head around his enemies, and you may be like, “Doesn’t that hurt him?” And that is the entire reason for it, the more pain he gets, the more relentless, aggressive he will get. The slam is the main weapon for these weird ass jaws since not only does it to insane damage due to Devilho’s size and weight, but also inflicts his very powerful saliva. And in-general more saliva will go everywhere to damage the monster’s body of whatever it hunts. It doesn’t matter if he gets a little pain due to it, his entire main jig is about his hunger being so much that he will hurt himself for it, it probably is more effective to it honestly. And it doesn’t matter if Deviljho loses his teeth so much as we have seen it’s growth rate which is very good unless the damage is like how we destroy his mouth part. What do you think? Btw, loving this video, like damn this is fun.

[@Cubey3]

Yeah, ive always thought it mouth was more of a clamp and its true weapon was its muscular neck to throw around prey and break bones by treating them like a chewtoy

[@lorencalfe6446]

i think deviljho’s teeth are continuously being replaced, faster than it could shed them, mangling its mouth and producing the distinct tooth whorl. I agree with your idea of its function though. I dont think it feels anymore pain than say a shark, which also sheds teeth regularly.

[@diousthomas8878]

@@lorencalfe6446 The big difference is that he literally bashes his face in, so it definitely hurts. He just doesn’t give a flying fuck about his health lol.

[@deathofme1]

Jyura is one of my favorite monsters. Wildspire is my favorite zone too. I love Diabolos and all my desert babies

[@cosmicaxolotl9842]

only got into monster hunter recently with world, but from what ive seen,, jyuratados is easily and very weirdly the most huggable monster. when it sticks its head up from the water,, it looks like a toddler playing in a bubble bath.

[@ericallan920]

One thought I had was that jyuratodus and lavasioth are closely related to the common ancestor of elder dragons (maybe even part of the basal taxon) since both jyuratodus and lavasioth have vestigial limbs in the same location as elder dragons have their wings/extra appendages and they are the only piscine wyvern that have that trait

[@draw2death421]

That is interesting... you might be onto someting... tho unless well get a piscine wyvern that uses dragon or has confirmed dragon element in its body im not too sure.

[@angellara7040]

They're fish not actually wyverians let alone elder dragons which produce elder dragon blood

[@merouln700]

I think the issue that people had with World Jyuratodus was how easy he was, he didn't have any attack that was threatening and was mostly a damage sponge that didn't take that much damage. Also, it toppled all the time, worse than Rise Mizutsune, I swear. I am of those who don't particularly like Jyuratodus in Rise, it's an improvement but it feels over corrected, like Rise Barroth. The only redeeming quality of Jyuratodus for me is the armor, WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY SICK AF especially for the male character. And having a name that sounds a gladiator name. Bad gameplay wise, but overall really well integrated monster. You said everything that needed to be said about Cephadrome, so I don't have to add. My favorite piscine wyvern is absolutely Beotodus, Tempered Beotodus is just the right amount of aggression, gimmick and damage for early Iceborne (base Beotodus has little too low HP to warrant such praise, even if the damage is here for a solid entry point to iceborne). Also Beo armor is cool (no pun intended) even if it's better without the (visible) helmet.

[@BaronSterling]

The way he says "Piscine" is Piscine me off.

[@TheGuardingDark_]

Agreed, the only thing all the Jyuratodus slander does. Is reveal a large number of peoples shit taste. Jyuragoatus for the win baby.

[@Iguana5k]

I think the reason why people dislike Jyratodus is the fact you fight it in mud that makes you kinda slow. Once you make yourselve those boots from those smaller dish that swim around there, which make you move faster in water and mud, the fight is quite fun in my opinion ^^

[@wichiewamirez5599]

Can’t wait for a psudowyvern video. That has to be my favorite class of monster

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Each will get their own video!

[@wichiewamirez5599]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel tigrex is my favorite monster in the entire series so I’m wry much looking forward to that one

[@purplehaze2358]

Hasn’t it been confirmed that candiru (albeit rarely) swim up people’s urethras after someone stumbled into a hospital following one such event?

[@aeonmatter6976]

I had an idea for a video for you. Maybe do a look into the creature in the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts series? Like maybe speculating what their ecology is like and biology? You could also lean into why would these creatures evolve these magical traits? Like why would the nifflers evolve a sort of pocket dimension on its belly? They used them to store food, jewelry and maybe young, but what kind of trait their ancestors have that allowed them to adapt their bellies into pocket dimensions.

[@dianslabbert504]

I am late but I am binging all your videos. In regards to the early life of the Blos Flying Wyverns as you mentioned their relationship to Cephalos I have my own hypothesise that when they are young they might have a sort of mountain goat lifestyle living on the cliff faces and other generally steep surfaces. This way when they are young and vulnerable they are out of reach of the large predatory Brute Wyvern, large Hermitaurs, Cephalos and Nibelsnarf. Then when they become larger they then venture out into the open plains as they can now better defend themselves. Sort of like how young Komodo Dragons have an arboreal lifestyle to avoid the adults of their species or how Bull Sharks grow up in mangrove swamps

[@goncalocosta9550]

You should do the star wars wildlife book next and keep up the good content

[@lilvalko5096]

jyuratodus was a fun fight in world. but yeah a lot of my friends said they hated it and didnt like the design or armor. personally i like it all

[@trevinsingh9390]

I dunno why but I have an undying love for the Beotodus helmet. All the fishlike wyverns have this roman/ancient gladiator knight look to them

[@jonathanatkinson399]

If they ever made a Spinosaur type of monster, I feel they would use the base skeleton of a Piscine wyvern/jyuratodus for it. Spinosaurus is a theropod with short legs and lives on water and on land. Piscine wyverns/Jyuratodus has a theropod body plan with short legs, aquatic move set, that also can fight on land etc. All they have to do is make a new model to go with the skeleton, an give it arms instead of fins etc. Plus this would be a great chance to give Piscine Wyverns a shot at having a pseudo elder or elder dragon level member. A brute wyvern skeleton would only really be a good fit for Suchomimus or some other longer legged Spinosaur.

[@marcgonzalez628]

I know you don't really look at the Stories games for research, but something interesting to note from the second game. At one point you fight against a Cephadrome alongside a Hunter who joins your party, interestingly however he states two things about Cephadrome that I don't think the mainline series ever addresses 1.) Apparently Cephadrome have very poor eyesight and actually rely almost solely on their hearing for hunting. 2.) They apparently will fight Plesioth over territory.

[@Galaxa3396]

I honestly think Jyuratodus is my favorite Wildspire fight because of the fact that it has such a unique "arena" and also the fact it looks like my favorite stupid fish, The mudskipper

[@confusedcephalopod3496]

Can’t wait for an episode on Kut ku and his generalist diet as shown by where you find his scales aswell as his relationship with garuga and the interesting brute wyvern duraburos the herbivore who has moss growing on itself

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Eager to do kut ku and his edgier brother too especially!

[@zachariewinters2335]

Hammerhead sharks are known to form 'packs' while hunting but this is more just collective hunting in a single place to affect the behaviours of prey through their landscape of fear, it is likely that the cephadrome simply have the same sort of 'pack' structure with the most dangerous dominant member of the species deeming where the subordinate pack members go for their hunting grounds.

[@brianklein4435]

I know Im late but the candyru acu is a very similar catfish species to the candyru but not the same, the acu version is parasitic and has verifiably swum up the urine stream of humans

[@mpbiggame1010]

"capcom have the fun pissing fight nailed down" THATS EXACTLY HOW YOU ARE PRONOUNCING IT MAN

[@CreatureMan934]

Babe wake up new Unnatural History Channel video

[@LynkynPeppers]

I would love to see you talk about the Fatalis trio, especially White Fatalis but I'm a bit bias as that's my favorite monster

[@kennethsatria6607]

I always had a soft spot for Jyura's pudgy shark head even-though breaking it that is somehow just mud.

[@molo1848]

Jyuratodus's fightning style actually changed a lot in rise.I'm wondering if that is the result of deeper ponds and more access to mud in the areas it's in,as it seems to use it's mud a lot more offensively

[@LoveFor298Yen]

As always, love the vid.

[@justsomejojo]

Jyuratodus' design to me is Plesioth done right to be honest. With Plesioth, its legs seem way too thin to support its body to me, while the more stout and thick body of Jyu seems much more appropriate at a first glance. It's also, finally, a fun piscine fight - I was actually surprised in World. And in Rise, they made it more active, adding to the fight even more. I always wondered if Capcom intended to retcon the catfish seen around Jyu (but also in 3's flooded forest) into Jyu's young stage. Probably not, since they have several traits Jyu lacks, but the thought was interesting.

[@xHideousFoxx]

I think it'd be cool if they gave cephadrome an ability to spit a phermon on the player that acts a debuff attracting his "pack" to attack more frequently until the debuff wears off.

[@agisuru]

I think the hatred of Jyuratodus has less to do with Jyura itself and more to do with the lack of alternative. It's not the greatest fight in the game, sure, and it's not meant to be, but it's also literally the only water-element monster in base world. A lot of players probably end up farming Jyura for far longer than they'd like to as a result, turning a decent but unremarkable battle into a bland and repetitive one. Since World brought in a lot of newcomers (myself included) to the series who weren't accustomed to how grindy the older games could be, the need to grind Jyura bred a hatred of it that infected the way people viewed everything about it. That's why people don't really complain as much about it in Rise. There's plenty of other water monsters available in Almudron and Mizutsune, so you don't ever need to fight Jyura as much as in base World.

[@Sunaki1000]

I love Cephadromes Design, but hate his Fight, so its nice seeing that Thing in a positive Light for once. 19:00 well I do enjoy Monster of all Tiers, I love Royal Ludroth as much as Zamtrios, and Diablos. Just cause hes not a important fight does not mean he cant be enjoyable. Tobi is his Tier of Difficulty and an absolutely great fight. I did like Beotodus a lot, so im sure a remade Cephadrome could be a lot of Fun.

[@redlord8438]

I'd love to see a video like this on Lavosioth

[@julianensor4416]

Have you ever considered doing an ecology video on Metro 2033 or S.T.A.L.K.E.R? I think that delving into the biology of the creatures in those games would be interesting since there mutants.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I do like the Metro games from what I remember of them, and I liked what little I saw of S.T.A.L.K.E.R too. I may do a video in the future on some of their creatures, and may do one on Fallout's deathclaws too.

[@shadow_thiy]

I'm curious on what would be the explanation on the paralysis abilities in a cephadrome and cephalos. One thing that I could always forget when fighting a tigrex or diablos and then suddenly I'm knocked down twitching and praying I don't get knocked unconscious.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I always just chalked this up as a predator deterrent personally.

[@askeladdsnumberonefan258]

Jyruatodus my goat

[@gallixypegasuss1546]

I would assume the Jyura dental plate was designed for competition with Barroth as Barroth have dense scales Also, Mizu/Almudron next? They both have more developed front claws, land-based leviathans, and a bushy tail.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Almudron has already been covered ;)

[@gallixypegasuss1546]

Oh ye! I think they would have a common ancestor tho

[@Derpysaur123]

Oooooh I totally blocked Juria from my memory and now I cant stop thinking about Lavisioth. Like could a large bodied piscine live in an area like the elders recess or volcanic areas but even more so in the molten rock it seems to effortlessly glide through?

[@Gaffu_]

I completely missed the thing that Rise is a different timeline. Can u explain this a bit? I thought that timeline splits weren't a mh thing. Great video as always btw

[@doolenny9458]

I love these vid analyses what I love most about mh mightn’t agree with everything you say but I can enjoy it wnyways

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Constructive isagreement always welcome!

[@doolenny9458]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel still great to have more people in the community who appreciate how excellent they are as creatures(it’s why I prefer roaming monsters over the arena ones) I hope more people realise they are more then just boss battles cuz there’s so much more work put into these creatures

[@GeraltofRivia22]

Finding out that Jyuratodus starts out as an internal parasite that eats the host from the inside is horrifying

[@Deoxys_Used_Mimic]

There’s a reason why I pronounce piscine as “pie-scene” and not “p*ssing.” Lol.

[@draochvar9646]

Aaaahhhm ... Sorry to break it to you but the stories about the Candiru are very much true and instances of its invasion of human privates have been well documented by the medical personnel involved in removing them. There's an episode of 'River Monsters' that lays out the story of one of these cases pretty clearly. What seemingly happens is that these fishes mistake humans for their actual targets, that being other fish, swim up the urinary tract, get stuck there and die and then have to be surgically removed.

[@sixpence743]

I would be really instrested to see a break down of how humans and wyverians evolved. Along with the felines as well. Most theroys I've seen is that the are closely related but due to the difference in digits I feel like they might have evolved simular traits separately. Then again I'm not any way qualified just personal speculation.

[@brianmckinnon7522]

How do you feel about sand-dwelling wyverns vibrating the sand to make it behave like a liquid to swim through? Maybe similar to the sand worms in dune?

[@derjager47]

Skink literally lived in the swamp, forest, jungle trees, and desert sand

[@draw2death421]

Thank you for not being mean to Jyuratodus i honestly think he doesent deserve all the hatred! Hes a solid early to mid Game fight and looks in my opinion atleast really cool! Have you noticed how Jyuratodus and Lavasioth have 6 Limbs? 2 back fins, 2 side fins and 2 legs. Could it be that mayby wyverns and elder dragons shared a common ancestor in Piscine wyverns? Others starting to look more like plesioth and turning into Wyverns like Rathalos and other developed their back fins into wings and side fins into arms and became elder dragons.

[@spinoguy9775]

If I can suggest a future video, you should talk about Nershylla and giant spider in fiction in general since you didn’t went in detail in the Primal’s video Also it was rumored that Jyuratodus was kind of an ancestor to all piscine wyvern or at least for Lavasioth, any tought about it ? Thanks for the video and happy 2022 !

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Happy 2022! And nerscylla will definitely be covered in future too! Jyura as the piscine ancestor is interesting, it's said in book it's barely changed over millenia so it could well be a valid point.

[@Sarcasmosuchus]

I don't mind either, but yeah not even gen 4 could save Cephadrome's fight, as it felt like a straight up copy and paste from the previous gen, and especially after the introduction of Nibelsnarf, which has (imo) a much more fun fight and interesting design, it has really fallen into the forgettable corner of the MH roster. I can't wait for the two remaining piscines, I am genuine when I say I really love both Lavasioth and Beotodus

[@draw2death421]

Yeah Lavasioth, Beotodus and Jyuratodus are awesome! (imo)

[@Kerbtree]

The thing about Juryatodus, is that it's a sad reminder of what could-have-been. It's not-Lagiacrus. With Lagiacrus not being in the Wildspire, that means we didn't get Agnaktor in Elder's Recess, either. *Sad Clacking sound*

[@lamhuynh7201]

We have now been introduced to a 1to1 analogue to dune's sandworm. Praise Shai Hu'lud

[@ShaulaXNinja]

Now we know where the Pokémon Garchomp came from.

[@takenname8053]

Can you make a single video comparing carved monster parts with real world their counter parts.

[@KenanVonKaiser]

Best Fist!

[@ColonelSanders493]

If the great desert was an ocean once,maybe the plesioth that inhabited it evolved into cephadrome

[@Noman69420]

Unfortunately there is a reported case of a candiroo swimming up a man's one eyed yogurt snake they talk about it in the catfish episode of river monsters

[@diaborodevil3161]

I now want a moist cephadrome subspecies now

[@freaky_owl5833]

Another great video! Absolutely agree with your thoughts on Cephadrome, despise the fight but actually love the design. Jyuratodus is quite a boring fight, but I also never really got the hate for it, it certainly isn't bad (although I believe a lot of people hate how it just looks like a muddy Lavasioth) Speaking of the sand swimming, I wonder if the snow swimming of the Beotodus would be as feasible? Looking forward to that video once the Iceborne book comes out

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Snow is an interesting one, some animals do seem to glide on and through it very well, but actually powered swimming through it is another question. And cheers!