No, they’re jellyfish. I’m sure they do talk, I’m not sure how (chemical or electrical signaling would make more sense than acoustic, but maybe it’s acoustic). It would be relatively simple, assuming they had knowledge of a human language, to produce tech that would translate electrical signaling to sound (or chemical signals, or out-of-range underwater acoustics). It’s zero-index tech, we could do that today quite easily.
I like that they are strickly aquatic creatures, but it does seem pretty limiting. They were the first bodies the Vaylen would use, and one of the clans use them almost exclusively. So… Do the Vaylen have ships filled with water, operated strickly by Makaras?
What do Makaras do in your games? The world-burning example in the book had one as figure of note, kept as a pet (probably in an aquarium of some kind?), but where to go from there? How do you impact the game?