Slitherwing

The Slitherwing is a Mystery Class dragon that appears in Dragons: Race to the Edge, Season 5.

Official Description
"Giant winged snakes with venomous scales and fangs, Slitherwings are truly the stuff of nightmares! As if one Slitherwing wasn’t deadly enough, the poisonous dragons tend to hunt in packs. Like regular snakes, a Slitherwing’s bright coloration indicates its venom level. The more colorful the Slitherwing, the deadlier the attack. These oversized serpents slither at top speeds, sedate prey with the toxins in their bites, and drag them back to their pit for dinner. Equally aggressive against Vikings and dragons, Slitherwings fear only one thing: Fire."

- Dragonpedia

Hatchling to Adult
The Slitherwing resembles a giant snake with its long, snake-like body. Its body has a bright, brilliant coloration and pattern that serves as an indication and warning to it's extreme levels of toxicity, much like many other animals, including: snakes, amphibians, fish and insects. It has numerous large fangs and teeth capable of injecting and transmitting venom. Unlike snakes and many species of dragons however, Slitherwings do not have a forked tongue. It also has a series of sharp spines of various shapes and sizes on the top of its head.

Endurance & Stamina
Slitherwings appear to be quite enduring, as a few individuals were shown enduring repeated attacks from the Dragon Riders' dragons, several even taking direct shots to the head only to shrug them off.

Slitherwings are also relentless in their pursuit of prey even after battling other dragons and are persistent enough to capture even the deadliest of prey, such as Death Songs. They can also slither at alarming speeds and are quite agile and maneuverable while flying.

Strength & Combat
Slitherwings where not shown to be particularly strong, but are proficient when it comes to combat. Although they heavily rely on their use of poison and venom to gain the upper hand, Slitherwings also employ the use of their stealthiness and bright coloration to ambush and startle enemies, and their aerial agility and maneuverability to prevent their foes from escaping.

Venom and Poison
The Slitherwing produces and secretes a toxic substance which is both highly venomous and highly poisonous. The toxic substance is fatal to both Viking and dragon alike, and is said to sedate the victim, rendering it immobile and defenseless, ready to be picked up by the Slitherwing.

The toxic substance secreted from the Slitherwing's body is poisonous and can quickly be absorbed by victims through any means of contact, although skin-to-skin transmission is the preferred method. Upon contact the poison quickly enters the victim's bloodstream, causing negative reactions to the body, and can kill a human within one month if not treated with an antidote, as Fishlegs said " You touch one and you are dead by the next moon." However, in "Buffalord Soldier" a day after Astrid catches The Scourge of Odin, Fishlegs states that the scourge overtakes it's victims in three moons. Hiccup replies that one moon had already passed, implying that "one moon" equals a day instead of a month. Meaning that instead of killing within one month, Slitherwing venom most likely kills within a day.

Symptoms of Slitherwing poisoning include: pale discoloration, green patches on the skin, extreme fatigue, pain, and possibly more unknown effects.



Venom Spitting
The Slitherwing also has the ability to spit venom from its mouth at potential victims, serving as their firepower and adding to their overall danger. This ability is similar to how different species of spitting cobras can spray airborne venom from their fangs.

Skin Coating
The toxic substance that the Slitherwing secretes on its skin is used to coat the entire body of the Slitherwing, which is why one touch from any part of its body could be fatal. The thick skin coating also protects the dragon from external substances applied to it, such as Death Song amber. The amber is unable to stick to the Slitherwing and thus unable to expand and solidify, rendering a Death Song attack on a Slitherwing useless.

Poison Spilling & Launching
The skin-secreted poison can easily be spilled by the Slitherwing using rash and sudden movements, tail flips, or by merely slithering on the floor. It is also able to directly launch quantities of poison at its targets utilizing it's tail as means of launching it, much like Cavern Crashers.

Behavior and Personality
Slitherwings are highly aggressive, instinct-driven and territorial dragons that hunt in packs, hunting most anything they can get their fangs on, including other dragons. They sedate their prey with their toxins before dragging it back to their cavernous lair to be eaten. They sleep coiled around like a spiral in caves and caverns. Slitherwings share a fear of fire with Fireworms. Slitherwings appear to be immune to a Death Song's enchanting song as well as it's amber firepower.

Weaknesses
Their inability to shoot any fire and their fear of it appear to be the Slitherwing's only two weaknesses.

Training
The Slitherwing's extremely aggresive and instinct-driven nature and high levels of toxicity render it very difficult, if not impossible, to train.

Dragons: Race to the Edge, Season 5
This dragon made its debut in the episode No Dragon Left Behind. When the riders went to find Garffiljorg a new home, they went to Slitherwing Island, oblivious about the venomous dragons that inhabit it.

Trivia

 * The Slitherwing is currently one of the five dragons known to eat other dragons, the others being the Red Death, the Scauldron, the Changewing and the Death Song.
 * It is possible that Slitherwings and Death Songs are natural enemies, since Slitherwings appear to be immune to the Death Song's song and amber firepower, share food sources including other dragons, live in similar habitats and appeared to be particularly intrested in eating Garfiljorg instead of the Rider's other dragons.
 * The Slitherwing's head bears a striking resemblance to an oriental dragon, and the Slitherwing’s body resembles that of a coral snake.
 * The Slitherwing appears to be based of coral snakes, spitting cobras, anacondas, poisonous toads and asian dragons.
 * An obscure line in "Dragon Flower" States that Scauldron venom kills within 24 hours, making them possibly as poisonous as Slitherwings.