The Gargantuan Leviathan - Subnautica's Extinct Colossus

The gargantuan leviathan was one of the most fascinating creatures to have ever lived on planet 4546B. Its status is nothing short of iconic, yet few seem to know much about it. Today, we’ll turn back time, as we explore the story of a creature whose sheer size allowed it to rise through the ranks, while cementing its eventual downfall.

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[nicholasloschiavo]

Some people say the garg would've feed on ghost leviathans, but I think it may have feed on huge prehistoric reefbacks a little bigger than it.

[chadnorris]

Looking at something that long, with bioluminescence all down its body, makes me think its hunting pattern may have involved fully encircling its prey from a distanc to confuse it, then moving in before the victim realizes where its head is.

[louisbaldwin]

My headcanon is that all creatures have a leviathan form. The crater we play on is just a breading ground. Everything eventually swims into the void once they're too big.

[lordpetroollo]

•Drives a cyclops around
•"Entering biological death zone"
•Turns of all lights and engines
•Goes to sleep
•Refuses to elaborate further

[Tundraviper]

Given the size of the gargantuan, it could also have had a slow birth cycle. As an example the Greenland Shark, which lives in very deep cold environments and Is one of the biggest sharks of its kind. But it reaches sexual maturity at the age of 150 and higher which makes its reproductive cycle extreamly slow, although due to its slow metabolism it does move extreamly slow, but at the same time they can live for an esimated 500 years or more.
Gargantuan Leviathans could have also been assisted in its downfall by low birth rates caused by the leviathans evolution to be so large that most animals would not mess with them at most ages, so the necessity to make more young quickly and in higher numbers not necessary.

[Jacob-dfhr]

An issue with an animal exceeding a kilometer in length is that it will run into issues with lag in its nervous system. Myelinated nerves, which are the fastest nerves and analogous to an insulated wire, can propagate a membrane potential at about 150m/s. It would take almost 7 seconds between a Gargantuan Leviathan's brain telling its tail to move, and the tail actually moving. It would have to have had hundreds of nuclei in its spinal cord to take advantage of reflex arcs to produce anything close to a coordinated, effective swimming motion, but it wouldn't have been close to agile. Alternatively, it could have been an ambush predator, spending much of its time coiled and using a number of rostral appendages to accelerate its head towards prey while the rest of the body stayed more or less stationary. It likely would have been blind, as the sheer enormity of its wake turbulence would have caused a silt-out in any environment where it would have been worth it to have eyes. It would have to have had a highly developed sense of proprioception to avoid mistaking the distal portions of its own body as prey. Or sapience.

There are clear advantages to being big. The advantages to being _that_ big are less clear.

[GoingBroke]

For anyone whose ever played Monster Hunter, the Lost River essentially being an ecosystem grown around the corpse of a Garg, is very reminiscent of the Rotten Vale in Monster Hunter World, which is an ecosystem built around the corpse of a particularly large Dalamadur, which is funnily enough also a gigantic serpent, albeit one that isn't aquatic.
While on the subject, it is worth noting that, since the crater in which the game takes place is such a small fraction of 4546-B, that it is entirely possible that the Garg exist elsewhere in the deadzone, since it was stated that the only lifeforms out there are microscopic or Leviathans, and therefore if everything elsewhere on the planet is much larger, food may be easier to find.

[BananaDude]

6:33 I would personally suggest that it would go months to years without a "sustaining" meal, only snacking on smaller creatures. Much like how many reptiles do here. For example, crocodiles and alligators have been seen going upwards of 12 months without food, and was likely what dinosaurs did aswell. I believe this is what many super-apex-predators such as the gargantuan leviathan would have done.

also i dont believe you mentioned it, but my personal head cannon is that the sea dragons once lived much higher than where they do now, however conveniently had the right body structure and abilities to survive in the magma zone once forced there to survive the garg

[ThyLord-kvbf]

I know this isn't Canon, but in the return of the ancients mod there is an animation for the sunbeam and I love the idea that there are still some in the void, waiting, lurking. Shame the farlands block it off, I would've loved to see it in game past a certain point.

[SkyWKing]

A big problem with such a big creature is neuron conduction delay. It will take anywhere between 10s to 1 minute for signals to propagate from the brain to the tail, thus making it impractical to perform any complex movement. They will likely have a segmented body and distributed brain system and mostly lure their food instead of actively hunting them. That is unless creatures on 4546-B developed some sort of optical fiber nervous system instead of the electrochemical nervous system found on Earth, which is quite likely given the ubiquity of bioluminescence.

[ΒασίληςΒλάχος-τκ]

That was an amazing intro, felt just like a cheesy horror movie. I mean seriously, who goes to the middle of the void to get a nice nap!?

[henrytheanglerfish]

I’ve seen people say how horrifying it would be for one to be alive in the game, but part of me wonders if it would even consider the player to be worth eating. Humans would likely be microscopic in comparison to it, so actively trying to hunt humans probably wouldn’t be worth the energy required

[lnferno_yt]

Another note to the skeleton in the lost river, alongside the fact that only a third of it can be seen, it was also only a juvenile garg that is in the lost river
Edit: This is the most amount of likes I have ever gotten lol

[yoskibroski]

Since the largest creature in Suvnautica, The Empress, is able to communicate with us, I love imagining that the Garg can too. It just never knew it could until we come swimming in it's void.

[kaixxbirdy]

The intro was so awesome omg, i was waiting for the leviathan and got jumpscared by the roar lol. I really love these videos treating subnautica like a documentary series, it's super interesting :D!!!
Fun Fact: Did you know a similar phenomenon called Polar Gigantism exists where animals in freezing waters tend to be larger than their warm water counterparts! It's theorised that the larger size slows metabolism and preserves energy + heat and allowing them to spend less time hunting/travelling!!

[dustincausey]

A terrifying thought what if the big gargantuan leviathan wasn’t fully grown?

[darthpaul]

I hope the third game leans into the horror more as seeing this thing in the corner of you eye or with the radar tool would be terrifying

[jallowesOfficial]

can i just say that this guy is one of the best subnautica lore person ive seen in years! keep up the good work man!!

[sawyermccall]

That intro scene was very well done with the effects and the music and everything

[Bunny_sweetheart]

In the world of subnatica deep sea gargantuanism actually leads to the big super predators being able to go sometimes years before having to eat again.

Edit: why the fuck is this so popular? Like wtf