Haven't noticed this mentioned before. I was in AG today, on the coast NE of the Thebes Amphitheatre TP. There were Cyclops standing up to their calves in the sea, and dying. I know creatures die if they enter the water but I've not seen anything die just by paddling in water.
Yeah sometimes if you just see a mob standing in water after a few minutes they fill fall over dead. Makes you wonder if its safe to swim in :)
I think it's a matter of how deep the water is - not how tall the creature is. it sort of works the same when mining. you can drop a probe is very shallow water, but at a certain depth you cannot.
ah, that answers my question I had, if mining claims can happen out in the water. I put down probes on a river island and had one of the claims show up knee deep off the beach. Of course drilling up a claim in the water wouldn't be a huge deal since apparently, we have gills or built in rebreathers or something.