Lantern Leviathan

“…huh what’s that?”
“Holy f*ck”
“Oh my god”
“Would you look at that… holy…”
- radio recording of divers in submersible [REDACTED]

Their reactions are understandable. It’s not every day when you’re deep in the open ocean in a tiny submersible that you accidentally stumble upon a, as of yet, undiscovered titan of a fish. Luckily for them, this is a gentle giant that feeds exclusively on zooplankton and other small free swimming animals.

With its fins spanning over 10 meters in length and weighing multiple metric tons, this is by far the largest Nienktvis alive, one of the biggest marine animals on Eryobis and possibly the most massive conodont that has ever lived.

While nowadays these leviathans live in the upper water column, peacefully filtering food with their gills, their bioluminescent organs reveal that their ancestors did share this pacifism.
Typically speaking, the only other nienktvissen with bioluminescent organs are bathypelagic predators. Using bulbs on the ends of their whiskers to attract prey and glowing teeth/ gums to guide food to the mouth.
While it seems the giants have kept this strategy, they now use it for a less bloody purpose than their demon toothed deep sea cousins.