Deep Sea Dragons, as their name suggests, spend most of their time in the darkest depths of the sea. They have a bioluminescent dorsal spine that serves to attract prey and communicate with their own kind. As with many deep sea animals, they generally eat whatever they can manage to bait. They rarely leave the ocean floor, surfacing only during breeding season. When they do choose to travel to the shallower depths, they avoid bright lights and will only come up far away from shore.

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.

SottoMarino is afraid of the dark. This is not good for someone who has to live in the deepest depths. He searches for vitamin enriched debris to eat that will enhance the power of his bioluminescence; this does attract prey and means that the antisocial Sottomare is slightly and grudgingly glad of his presence. He  appreciates that, as it means there is often someone close by when he has a fit of the heebie-jeebies.

But he so wishes he had been born a water-walker. He tries to divert himself from his fears by reading anything that floats to the sea floor—it is surprising how well some books survive, and he has almost read the whole of the Book of Days now. He also read part of Macbeth, but several critical pages were missing, and he lives in hope of them showing up some day, so that he can find out just what did happen to the witches.