A shrimp restaurant in an Octarian city.
You might say it's repulsive, but the Octolings didn't know any better. The Shrimpians lived south of the Inklings, so they were completely blocked off. For many decades, the Octarians didn't have a stable food source, as their diets were drastically different than those of the Urchins next to them, and they weren't on very good terms with the other three societies living by them (The Anemone, The Inklings, and the Jellies).
Many Octarians didn't even know the Shrimpians existed, so it didn't seem strange at all to them that they were the new food source, and those who did were convinced that they were a savage species.
The Octarians had made a deal with the Urchins that they would supply them with Shrimp (their societies' territories border each other), and in return, the Octarians would supply them with power; The Octarians, rather than using a Zap Fish, used a Bolt Eel, which would live for hundreds more years than a Zap Fish. The Urchins had always struggled with electricity; only the wealthier cities would have it, and it came from expensive, water-powered mills.
But one day, the Bolt Eel was found dead from an unknown cause. Not only would this get rid of the Octarians' electricity, but it would cut off the shrimp deal with the Urchins.
During the past few years, the Octarians had learned how to successfully farm underground, so when this happened, the food wasn't a problem, though shrimp did, of course, become a rare delicacy. Power, however, was a larger issue. Almost two years had passed since the death of the Bolt Eel, and all Octarian Cities were living off of emergency generators. Thanks to the Octarians' advancements in science compared to the other societies, they were able to create generators that lasted for very long periods of time.
But one day, the generators would stop working. The Octarian society was in a state of emergency.