Palefin Coeaai

Much like the sharks of Earth, the coeaaien of Eryobis are subject to rather simplistic names. A prime example of this is the palefin coeaai (Psittacopristis pterochrio), a species of plated coeaai (order Laminocoeaiida) that inhabits the shallow waters along the northern and western coasts of Bloëcan Miesjeta.

As is typical for coeaaien, this species also has two large pectoral fins that are permanently oriented upward to function as dual dorsal fins. While these are mostly fixed, they do possess a small degree of mobility and allow coeaaien, such as this species, a surprising amount of maneuverability and makes them able to turn on a dime. Usually slow cruisers, coeaaien can perform quick bursts of speed to catch their prey and their maneuverability and flexibility allows them to strike fast in many directions around them.

A medium sized species with an overblown ego, palefins are known to be very inquisitive and border on aggression with their tendency to bite and nip things to investigate them. Chain mail is therefore a must for divers.

While they are generally known to feed mostly on small fish and nienktvissen, their plate-like fused teeth are self sharpening and extremely durable, which also allows them to feed on tougher prey such as pectinauts. 

In addition, palefin coeaaien have been reported as avid scavengers that seem to get attracted to spilled blood in a fashion often described to sharks.

Being far from the largest coeaai species that lives around the Bloëcan coasts, they often congregate in groups of up to 30 individuals as protection. This however, also contributes to their perceived aggressive behavior, as they need to be quick and fierce in order to secure food for themselves.

Like many other members of the Laminocoeaiida, they possess a sharp spine in front of their true dorsal fin. Curiously, this spine seems to have evolved and been modified from the "spines" already present in the original first dorsal fin of the ancestral coelacanths.

Tiger Wangvin

The seas of Eryobis are full of horrors and monstrosities with faces hard to love. Evolutionary abominations like llamplelgans, creatures that look like squid-scorpion hybrids that turned out to have evolved from polychaetes, are often considered by explorers to be among the most cursed looking creatures to be found on Eryobis.

Looks are one thing, behavior is another.

Fermourodonts easily take the title of the creatures most unfriendly towards humans, given that they go out of their way to destroy our electric equipment and vehicles, while coeaaien tend to get a bad reputation because of their superficial resemblance to sharks.

There are however a few nienktvissen that also often end up high in the rankings of the most horrible creatures to be found on this world. While this is largely based on appearance, there are real life precedents of nienktvis encounters ending up lethal on our side. While this was likely an accidental anomaly that was only caused by poor handling on the explorer's part, there are other nienktvissen that do actually have a taste for human blood. The losqulas are predatory nienktvissen that regularly feed on large prey, which includes us.

But losqulas are not the only type of nienkvis that prey on large, usually live prey. Considered to be reasonably close relatives to the true squidn'ts, these carnivorous nienktvissen are often referred to as wangvins (Zygopterichthyidae). One the first things anyone remotely familiar with nienktvis anatomy will notice are the large "fins" that flare out from below the eyes. These fins are derived from the barbels seen in other nienktvissen and likely serve as stabilizers and lift generators. An adaptation seen in at least two other unrelated kinds of nienktvissen.

The tiger wangvin (Malascellus tigris), known to live in the Riatis Ocean, is a medium sized species that grows between 150-180 cm long. These wangvins, like most others, are predators with long protruding teeth based on large plates that can all move independently. While they look scary, wangvins are significantly less dangerous than losqulas as they tend to be more wary of their surroundings. It is thought that this wariness might be due to them not wanting to risk their cheek fins getting damaged, as it could pose a large hindrance to their hunting and general life. That said, wangvins are known to get aggressive when they detect blood in the water and there are at least a dozens reports of divers getting bitten in the legs or arms by curious wangvins. Our standard diving suits are multi colored with striped limbs to break the silhouette and deter large predators from attacking, but it seems that these striped limbs can seem like separate, smaller prey animals to the wangvins.

These fish tend not to venture too far out to the open ocean and will usually patrol deeper zones of reefs during the day and come up to the surface at night.

 

Brown Richibi

Most nienktvissen possess 6 or 7 gill slits, with the latter seemingly being the ancestral state. There are a handful however that have even less. The richibi's, as they are often referred to, are conodonts that only have 5 gill slits. That is hardly the only strange thing about them however, as these fish are known to possess a far greater number of functional fins than most other nienktvissen do, moving them in a wavelike fashion similar to how the extinct Anomalocarids of Earth are speculated to have done.

Some researchers have suggested that richibi's might not even be actual nienktvissen at all, but rather another kind of conodont that independently evolved a similar style of locomotion by splitting the ancestral caudal fin into a number of finlets. There is however, hardly enough evidence to confirm this theory and there is too little genetic testing on nienktvissen as a whole draw support from.

Richibi's are almost exclusively found swimming in the coastlines and river mouths tropical and subtropical Miesjeta. The brown richibi (Virrateops fulvus) is a species that can be found inhabiting estuaries, deltas and the waters near river mouths in Bloëca. Spending a lot of time in murky waters, this fish has long barbels with which it can detect food and foe when visibility becomes too low.

It is thought to feed predominantly on plant matter and mollusks, but too little about its lifestyle is known to say for sure.

Whitetip Meadow Coeaai

Much like the sharks of Earth, the coeaaien of Eryobis are subject to rather simplistic names. A prime example of this is the whitetip meadow coeaai (Livadiselache leucacrus), a species of toothed coeaai (order Odontocoeaiida) that inhabits the shallow waters along the eastern coast of Hatèmica. As its name suggests, it has a distinctive white tip on its caudal fin that distinguishes it from other meadow coeaaien.

It is a medium sized species, with the largest individuals reaching around 2 meters long and poses little threat to human divers. It feeds mostly on relatively soft bodied animals smaller than itself such as small fish, nienktvissen and llamplelgans as well occasionally scavenging on deceased megafauna.

As is typical for coeaaien, this species also has two large pectoral fins that are permanently oriented upward to function as dual dorsal fins. While these are mostly fixed, they do possess a small degree of mobility and allow coeaaien, such as this species, a surprising amount of maneuverability and makes them able to turn on a dime. Usually slow cruisers, coeaaien can perform quick bursts of speed to catch their prey and their maneuverability and flexibility allows them to strike fast in many directions around them.

A common species around Hatèmica, it can often be found as bycatch in fish markets on the eastern coast of this continent. It is said that the small, but numerous scales of coeaaien make their skin very tough to chew through, but that the meat underneath is quite tasty. The fact that coeaaien do not excrete urine through their skin like sharks do probably makes them a lot more palpable.

While coeaaien such as this species often remind us of the sharks back home and on many colonies, there is one behavioral trait these fish possess that is most unsharklike. Namely their breeding habits. While sharks practice internal fertilization and often give live birth, the method coeaaien use is more like that of most bony fish. They perform a behavior called spawning, where the male and female freely release their gametes into the water. It likely differs per species and location, but whitetip meadow coeaaien have been observed to dig shallow holes in the sediment or make small "nests" in the vegetation for the breeding pair to spawn into. Curiously, it is often the male that stays behind to guard the eggs while the female goes on to mate with another male, only to repeat the process. This makes them seem like quite dedicated parents and indeed, the male will even keep guarding the young after they hatch, but as soon they start growing teeth, which is usually after around a week, the male is just as likely to eat them as guard them.

Green Sjaul

Far out in the open ocean is where you can often find the fastest swimming animals. Nowhere to hide, in this watery desert, the only defense for anything that isn't translucent is speed. Fish that live here are often thunniform and carangiform in body shape for hydrodynamic efficiency.

It should therefore be little surprise that nienktvissen, conodonts that do not possess a typical fish like body, are not that common far out in the ocean. There are a number of very large bodied nienktvissen that carve out a living in the open ocean by feeding on plankton or small shoaling crustaceans and fish, but these do not typically frequent the surface.

There is one kind of nienktvis that can be found at high sea, the sjaul. Scientifically known as the genus Cephalopteron (and possibly others), there likely at least a dozen species of sjaul to be found in the oceans of Eryobis. 

These are peculiar looking animals, even for nienktvis standards.

Their bodies are cone shaped and possess four very large fins, behind which a much smaller fin is located. It is thought that the large fins are used for propulsion while the smaller ones provide stability or aid in changing or maintaining direction and stability. In addition, sjauls have another pair of "fins" located on top and below their head. These derive from the ancestral barbels present in most nienktvissen and are likely a feature that sjauls evolved convergentlty with some other unrelated nienktvissen such as vlagops. It is still unclear what exactly these are used for.

The green sjaul (Cephalopteron virens) is a species that can be found cruising the open waters of the Tinjis Ocean in its warmer regions. Here it feeds mostly on free swimming arthropods, small fish and plankton. The tooth elements in the back of its mouth are blunt and rounded, which helps them crush the food that they cannot swallow whole.

Sjauls are a much desired catch for fishermen because of their muscular bodies and crustacean induced flavor. But it is not just fishermen that want to eat sjauls.

Because these fish are quite common and often form shoals of several hundred individuals, they get preyed upon by a wide variety of both marine and aerial predators.

The soft bodies of sjauls make them favorable prey for ritsuara's and other Fermourodonts, which often emply hit and run tactics where they will slice a sjaul in half and come back to eat when it has become incapacitated. 

Blueside Molula

Tropical reefs are home to some of the most colorful and diverse wildlife in the oceans. This is as true for Earth as it is for Eryobis. The Caddis Sea and the shallow waters around the Rubiëran archipelago are home to some of the largest reefs on Eryobis and consequently, are home to some of the most stunning aquatic creatures to be found on this world.

A prime example of this is the blueside molula (Molula cyanopleurus), a splendidly colored species of nienktvis. Named for its outward resemblance to the molas from Earth and given the Latin suffix -ula for its diminutive size. Molulas are quite common in tropical regions all around Eryobis, but Rubiëra appears to be especially rich in molula species, with possibly over a dozen having been observed.

The blueside molula is a quite typical molula species most easily distinguishable by its bright blue side with yellow under-borders and white stripes. Like all molulas, it has evolved four of its barbels into large and flat palps for the purpose of feeding. This adaptation is also seen in cyclopses and it is currently thought that molulas share a fairly recent common ancestor with these creatures.

Like some other molulas, it is a carnivore that feed predominately on small arthropods that live in the reefs. With their palps, they are able to manipulate their food to a great degree and have been observed using them to break the pincers off crustaceans in order to eat them without getting injured.

While we have no evidence supporting the fact, Rubiëran natives claim that molulas are poisonous to eat. It is said they occasionally rub dead molulas on their darts to weaponize their alleged toxins.

Sixgill Vibrissotact

The Vibrissotactus hexanchus, more often known as the sixgill vibrissotact, is a small species of nienktvis native to the coastal regions of eastern Guralta. It is commonly found in algae forests where it perfectly blends in with the vegetation.

Based on stomach contents and the morphology of its teeth, it has been determined that these fish are omnivores, feeding on both algae and invertebrates such as various mollusks, echinoderms and crustaceans. Compared to its relatives Vardichthys and Xegeloichthys, which are also members of the family Vibrissotactidae, the sixgill- is a lot less carnivorous. Due to the fact that sixgills- do not possess the bioluminescent organs that other members of the family possess, it is currently thought that sixgills- and other surface dwelling members are the "standard" for the family, while various lineages have independently colonized the deep sea over time.

Sixgill vibrissotact are territorial animals that passionately defend their own little "gardens" of algae against intruders and small carnivores. Because of this, they are not particularly common and not often consumed by the natives or our explorers. Despite this, they are said to taste quite good, with a decent fat content and sweet buttery taste that reminds of crayfish, which is likely due to the fact these fish consume a lot of crustaceans.