the dragon
I'm coming up with this on the fly just for you! @esraeh
I'm thinking he's a watery boi! This one lives in the ocean, but there are subspecies that live in other bodies of water!
His colors are probably blue and aqua because.. i like those colors :3c And his horns are actually a type of staghorn coral! Young dragons are encouraged to seek out polyps of coral to attach to themselves, and it becomes a symbiotic relationship--the dragon gains ornamental beauty which will help in impressing a mate later in life (if they take care of their coral colony), and the coral is strengthened by the dragon's magic to withstand the currents caused by its movements, as well as more access to food as the dragon moves around. The selected coral can be of any type--some might even choose non-coral ornaments such as barnacles or anemones.
Prey is realistically anything they can catch or fit in their mouths, but they prefer larger fish or even cetaceans depending on the dragon's size. Anything that comes to try and damage its coral colony or other symbiotic organisms is fair game, including humans who may want the bragging rights of having a dragon's horn, although it's highly illegal and generally not worth the risk. Once the coral is broken off, it's disconnected from the dragon's magic and just becomes normal coral again, eventually bleaching and becoming brittle. Doesn't stop people from trying, though.
If a community discovers one of their own has attacked a dragon for their horns, they will often offer apology in the way of offerings of fresh fish, or redouble efforts to keep the waters clean to ensure the ecosystem is healthy for future generations of dragons.
One could say that the colony of creatures they carry symbiotically is their hoard! Most dragons will continue to accumulate more over their lifetime, the longest lived and most powerful eventually becoming massive slow-moving ecosystems. When a dragon eventually dies, all those magically-charged nutrients are put to good use, supercharging the colony's growth to form a sturdy foundation underneath itself so it can still stand once the soft body has degenerated. The dragon's body and what's left of its magics feed the local ecosystem for days, if not weeks, boosting the health of any animals who feed from it.
Their abilities include: water current manipulation, allowing them to move as quickly as they please despite any hydrodynamic drag their accumulated colonies might normally incur; in the same vein, they can control water in a way to always hold it against their body, useful for rare times when they might emerge from the water, to keep their colonies alive while they move around on land; they can fly but typically reserve the usage of that movement for underwater travel, unless leaving their home body of water due to unlivable conditions. Water purification: ability to use their magics to change the chemical composition of water, which helps them keep their ecosystem healthy, and also helps their human neighbors.
As humans depend heavily on water, it's no surprise that dragons and humans might come into contact with each other. But most communities quickly form a protective bond with their local dragon, understanding that a healthy ecosystem = a healthy dragon, and a healthy dragon = a robust, healthy ecosystem. A dragon's presence means that food is abundant and healthy, as well as protected for decades or centuries to come. Humans help keep the beaches and shorelines clean, taking what they need for food without overfishing, and in return dragons help keep human communities safe from waterfront storms, and purify water for them to drink.
