When Water Dragons mature, they lose the ability to survive on land, entering the water permanently. They are adept swimmers and eat whatever fish are in the lake they live in. They tend to inhabit the same lake for their entire lives, although a few live in the ocean and swim all over the world.

Dragons are highly-intelligent reptilian creatures that—from a human perspective, at least—appear to live forever. Many different varieties of dragon exist, each with their own unique qualities, habitats, and behavior. Adolescence in dragons is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling’s wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. In Galsreim, dragons and humans coexist peacefully.

Surfside was born inside a shallow pool that slightly boils. This pool, along with several others around it, is actually located quite close to a sleeping volcano that somehow is sleep talking which causes the pools to be active themselves. Surfside adapts to any water temperature very well, and even though he lived among the warm spas when he was a hatchling, he had to be moved to a larger lake when he eventually got too big to live in those small volcanic spas. He wasn't bothered at all about moving to a cooler body of water.