Sarlaccs were dangerous, carnivorous creatures located on Tatooine and several other planets throughout the galaxy. It shared common ancestry with other species, including the rathtar, blixus, and vixus. One sarlacc that lived in the Great Pit of Carkoon in Tatooine’s Dune Sea served as one of Jabba the Hutt‘s favorite pets and a means of execution.
Sarlaccs began their lives as spores and were able to travel great distances. When a male and female encountered one another, the smaller male would parasitically feed off the female, diminishing her size while increasing his own. Once the male reached the female’s original size, he would burst, releasing millions of spores into the air and atmosphere.
Once sarlaccs reached their maturity after 30,000 years, they would burrow themselves nearly 100 meters below the surface, feeding on creatures and humanoids unfortunate enough to fall into their mouths. Victims of the sarlacc would be overcome with toxic fumes and would either die from suffocation, the acid or both. According to Jabba the Hutt, prey were allegedly digested for millennia due to the creature’s weak stomach acid. However, it is unknown if this was a fabrication by Jabba to intimidate those who were to be executed, as it would seem that the creature did have a slow digestive system. During Boba Fett’s escape, he spotted the body of a stormtrooper that was likely part of a search party years before. Despite this, the stomach acid of the sarlacc was still potent enough to have dissolved holes in the stormtrooper’s armor and scar Boba Fett after only hours of exposure. Likewise, the stormtrooper was seemingly dead by the time Fett found their body, meaning regardless of how slow the digestion is, prey would likely not survive long before either suffocating or being dissolved.
A hundred meters in height, its entire body was buried in sand, save its massive mouth and beaked tongue. The sarlacc had several appendages that branched off from its buried body, and many stomachs. The creature swallowed its prey whole, and its mouth contained rows of hundreds of spear-like teeth, which kept the victim from climbing back out.
There was some debate among xenobiologists as to whether the creature was an animal or an unusual carnivorous plant, though most found the creature far too dangerous to merit an extended study of the question. The sarlacc shared a common ancestor with the rathtar, blixus, and vixus, and all possessed a large maw, tentacles, and a voracious appetite. Each was native to different worlds and had adapted differently to become a great hunter in its specific environment, with the sarlacc becoming the largest and least mobile of its relatives.
Sarlaccs were fairly durable, with one surviving internal damage caused by Boba Fett tearing and burning his way out of its stomach. This specimen would survive for at least five more years before being killed by Fennec Shand with a seismic charge dropped from Slave 1.
A predator to the sarlacc was the krayt dragon. According to Tusken Raiders, krayt dragons could eat sarlaccs alive, then burrowed in the cavity left behind, only coming out when hungry or provoked.