The idea behind this character is to be predominantly a strong, agile swimmer. Think a baseball player level strength. I'm trying to decide on whether how much fluff I want on them, and what type of animals I want to use as inspiration (mostly looking at crustaceans, arachnids, seals, adolescent zebra sharks, crocodiles, caiman lizards, betta fish, and some species of salt water fish) as well as the color palate.

Initial sketches:

SPOILER (click to toggle)

SPOILER (click to toggle)

If they spend most of their time in the water, they probably wouldn't have that much fluff at all. Hair causes drag and resistance when swimming, which is why Olympic-level swimmers are waxed to within an inch of their lives. You could probably change it to a crest of scales, fins, or some other similar-looking yet more aquatically pragmatic feature.

For color palette inspiration, perhaps look to various sharks and dolphins. Maybe even marlins or swordfish. Creatures like this typically have a pale underbelly and a darker colored top half, to help camouflage themselves in the water. I like the spots that you have on the prototype, you could probably make them more closely resemble the thick stripes/spots on, say, a leopard shark, or something like what the white-beaked dolphin, striped dolphin, or common dolphin has on their body.

I think if you want them to have that vibe, instead of fur (like the person above said), I would give them more exaggerated wide shoulders! Think like big shoulders and smaller waste to really exaggerate that shape language on the form.