Hph'Xop

Give the animal's standard name. Provide a one or two line description of the species, mentioning any major specializations the species possesses, as well as the environment of its natural habitat.

The introduction should also credit the creator here.

Biology
Describe the size, weight, and colouration of the species. Give a detailed description of the creatures. Explain any specializations that the species possess. Describe the senses this creature has. Note offensive and defensive adaptations. Describe its sleeping habits, whether diurnal, nocturnal, or other. Note sexual dimorphism.

Behaviour
List any and all behaviour related information. Communication, aggressiveness, migratory and hibernation behaviour.

Diet and Feeding Patterns
Describe its sources of food and eating habits. Does it prey in certain periods?

Social and Territoriality
Do individuals or groups claim territory? Do they form flocks or are they individual? Do they roam or stay in one spot?

Mating and Reproduction
Hphxops are hermaphroditic creatures, and all are outfitted with a sperm-carrying arm termed a hectocotylus. This love-tentacle is loaded into their partner's oviduct, fertilizing their stored eggs, which are then laid shortly after. Freshly laid eggs are spirited off to a communal egg-house, where the "Egg-kepper" takes up egg-tending with obsessive ardor. Hphxop eggs generally hatch after 10 months. Those who are deemed intellectually or genetically inadequate are barred from reproducing. Conversely, the cleverer citizens take up reproduction as a community service, and conduct their ritualized sex with business-like passionlessness. Consequently, Hphxop Parenthood is an alien notion, and members of their race are reared exclusively by teachers.

Intelligence
Is this creature intelligent? Can it respond to stimuli well? Does it have any intelligent behaviours such as pack hunting or laying traps?

Domestication (optional)
Unnecessary, but if the species is intended to be domesticated by anyone, describe the process. describe if this species difficult to train, the attitude required by the trainer, the age at which you could possibly domesticate it and when you no longer could, and the general tasks a domesticated member of this species would perform.

Culture (sapient only)
Hphxop society is ruled by a class of venerated scholar-priests, superlatively intelligent Hphxop who preserve their history, govern, and preach of the Timeless One, a thousand-tentacled god who exists outside of time and is said to have fashioned their species in its image. Because of this celebrated favoritism with their esteemed deity, they consider themselves to be innately superior to all other organisms, and hold other sapients with naked disdain. Hphxop scholar-priests elect a Pope-king who rules until they're deemed intellectually unfit.

History (sapient only)
Give a quick overview (No more than say, 5 lines) of the history of the species, linking to a more detailed description if large.

Content Links
Link to content (stories, drawings, whatever) featuring this species.
 * HPH'XOP AMA (22/03/2015)