Red-eye Prosse

Toeing the line between camouflage and extravagant display, the red-eye prosse (Ithopoius coccineus) is a curious little bunnyfish that inhabits seaweed forests off coastal Lachoba. The most striking feature of prosses are their enormous pectoral- and pelvic fins that are normally held against the body, but can be folded out for display. These four large fins have colorations and markings resembling large, red eyes.

These fins are used for both attracting mates and to intimidate competitors and predators. As typically solitary animals, prosses carve out little territories for themselves and do not seem to tolerate other prosses of the same sexe within their territory, but these territories do often overlap with those of the opposite sexe.

Red-eye prosses feed mostly on small invertebrates like various annelids, small arthropods and pectinauts. One thing that has been observed by scuba divers is that prosses will approach divers within their territory and search them for parasites, which might indicate that they act as cleaners for larger animals when they stop by.

Despite possessing no teeth, genetic testing has revealed that prosses are most closely related to the Odontocoeiida, the toothed coeaaien, more than any other bunnyfish. This further reinforces that the shark like body shape of various coeaaien evolved independently.