| Description | Humanoid, Bipedal |
| Size | Medium |
| Skin Pigment | Green |
| Hair | Green |
| Distinguishing Features | Wear an amulet like device on head. Webbed hands and feet, several fins. They have a prominent dorsal fin which starts on the crown of the forehead and runs back through the scalp and down the back as far as the small of the back. They also have fins on both of their lower legs and both of their lower arms. Their gills are in their necks. |
| Series | TAS: "The Ambergris Element", DS9: "Dax" (mention only) |
| Planet of Origin | Argo |
| Quadrant | Alpha |
| Background | Once their civilization lived on the land, just like
Terrans. A planet-wide catastrophe caused virtually all the land to sink
under the waves. Aquan scientists developed a serum that would change their
race permanently into water breathers, and administered it to all the population
in time to save the civilization. This was hundreds, if not thousands of
years ago in Aquan history. Now they are all at home in the sea, and blame
air breathers (in essence, their ancestors) for the planetary calamity
that overtook them. The USS Enterprise arrived to study Argo, and landed in a specially designed aqua-shuttle but were attacked by a sea monster. McCoy, Scott, and Lt. Clayton find the missing officers, but they have been transformed into water breathers. Kirk and Spock explored the submerged world and find the inhabitants. Hesitantly, the Aquans agree to perform surgery to return Kirk and Spock to normal, but when Scotty dives down to warn of an impending quake, they become fearful of air-breathing spies. Kirk and Spock are deemed treacherous and are sentenced to death. Rila, a water breather, agrees to help them if they will in turn help him find a buried city and a way to reverse the mutation. They are successful and obtain the necessary medicine to help Kirk and Spock, but Kirk nearly dies from the vaccination. In orbit, the U.S.S. Enterprise uses its phasers to hit the uninhabited sections of the planet in an attempt to move the quake's epicenter away from the Aquan city. Grateful for saving their lives, the young Aquans make their records available to the Federation and decide to use the new found medicine to reverse their water-breathing mutations and resume life above ground. |
| Editors Notes | Argoans are creatures of science. The Federation has had only one contact with Argoans, and have placed a quarantine on the world to protect both the citizens of the world from unwanted contact from air breathers and to protect their world from unscrupulous traders wishing to capitalize on the Argoan's advanced scientific techniques. The Aquans, on their part, are quite glad not to have any unnecessary contact from air breathers. They can see very well under the water, having developed nictating membranes that allows them as much visual ability underwater as they had on land. They can live at a reasonably great depth underwater, and can swim like fish. Argoans can live for up to an entire day on land, but must return to water each day for one hour, or they begin to suffer dehydration. Most Argoans (Aquans) hate air breathers. The few that do not hate them still dislike them. The Aquitarians reveal a very limited willingness to settle differences other races peacefully. This might hint at a more general xenophobic attitude. Their technology is inferior to those of the Federation at present. |