Grey Gelant

Just as it was on Earth, stepping out onto rocks in the sea could end with a nasty surprise. One moment your foot is touching wet stone, the next you're in agonizing pain because you stepped in something sharp. On Earth, and a number of colonies for some unknown reason, there are Synanceiids, better known as stonefish, whose venomous stings have been the stuff of nightmares for many a person.

Given all its similarities to Earth, it should perhaps come as no surprise than Eryobis has its own flavour of stinging rock mimicking fish.

The rocky coastal areas of Tlèëa at the northern end of the world are home to a number of such stinging fish, and perhaps one the most common ones is the grey gelant (Lithomimus cinereus). The grey gelant, like other gelants, is a Laminocoeiidan bunnyfish, which means it has no true teeth, but rather possesses a single plate in its mouth that evolved from teeth that fused together.

Gelants are characterized by their enlarged pelvic fins, high set pectoral fins and an anal fin positioned almost directly to- and being part of the caudal fin as an additional lobe.

Additionally, different species can be distinguished by the possession, shape and size of the 2 to 6 sharp spines within their first dorsal fin.

The grey gelant is a relatively large species of its genus at an average of 60 cm long and is not particularly specialized at camouflage compared to some other gelant species. Its skin is rough, with numerous small, but spiky scales covering its body, yet it looks fairly smooth. This, combined with its decently large tail makes grey gelants quite good swimmers for their family. 

They feed mainly on mollusks and crustaceans that live between the rocks on the seafloor, which they make short work of with their wide blunted tooth plates.

It has three sharp spines within its dorsal fin that it can flex up and down. These spines are coated in an, as of yet unidentified, venom that causes excruciating pain when it enters the body. While no deaths from stepping on gelants have been recorded, victims have been known to be unable to walk for up to a week after being stung due to the extreme pain.

Dacruon bathynectes

The Voûlic Ocean located near- and on the south pole of Eryobis has, on average, the coldest waters in the world. Even though barely any permanent sea ice exists, surface temperatures are known to drop below 0°C in winter. The cold waters of the Voûlic however, are also very oxygen- and nutrient rich, resulting in the south polar ocean being some of the most productive waters on Eryobis. Many peculiar organisms can be found in the chilly depths at the southern end of the world, with some more rare than others. 

The waters are often too cold and potentially dangerous for human explorers to dive into, so ROVs are typically employed on expeditions here. ROVs often only ever encounter small invertebrates or small fish too slow to flee from the lights, but on occasion, the ROV may encounter something more rare.

On one such encounter, the ROV came across a kind of fish that had never been seen or heard of. Measuring between 3 and 4 meters long and shaped like long tailed tear drop, the Dacruon bathynectes, still lacking a common name, is very large kind of bunnyfish, as could be determined by the placement of its pectoral- and pelvic fins. 

The enormous fish was found at a depth of around 300 meters, just below the photic zone, slowly cruising with long movements of its tail. Because the fish moved so sluggishly, the ROV was able to place a tracker on its dorsal fin, which revealed that D. bathynectes performed vertical migration; spending the day time hours at depths between 200 and 500 meters and moving up around 30 meters deep during the night.

Footage of the fish's head revealed that it large, flat and blunt teeth within its thick, but deep jaws. This points to D. bathynectes being a durophage, feeding on hard shelled prey like mollusks and crustaceans. While no footage of the act of feeding, or evidence from washed up specimens exist, it is thought that Dacruon most likely relies on pelagic pectinauts as its main food source. The slow swimming nectonic scallops are known to perform vertical migration in other parts of the world's oceans, so it is not unreasonable to assume they might do the same in the cold waters of the Voûlic.

Smooth Erebut

Eryobis is no stranger to dorsoventrally flattened, or "ray-like", marine creatures. The earliest case we know of were the Eurygnathid coelacanths that lived over 300 million years ago. Then of course there are the Planosolincolae, the "flattacanths", which are some of the most successful groups on Eryobis since they gave rise to the Anisospondyli which came to dominate the land. Presently, we can even find siderays living beneath the waves, which are an attempt by nienktvis conodonts at the flattened demersal lifestyle.

While we are yet to discover any highly flattened examples of Holostean fish that also inhabit Eryobis, there does exist a third(?) kind of dorsoventrally flattened coelacanth that persists to the present day: the Erebuthoids, commonly known as erebuts.

Much like rays on earth are essentially just flat sharks, erebuts are flattened coeaaien. More specifically, they are Laminocoeiidans, plated coeaaien. As such they have no true teeth, but rather a single plate that evolved from teeth that fused together.

Erebuts are easily distinguishable from other coeaaien by their extremely hypertrophied pelvic fins that they use as their primary locomotors. Their pectoral fins on the other hand are small and located high up near the spine. It is not yet known what purpose these small fins serve, but some speculate they may play a role in communication.

The species pictured here is the smooth erebut (Opthoffia guraltanensis), a small species native to the east coast of Guralta. The name "smooth" does not refer to the animal's skin, which is rather rough like those of most erebuts, but to the fact that this species lacks the defensive spine on the first dorsal fin present in most plated coeaaien. 

This species primarily feeds on small mollusks and crustaceans that live on the seafloor and can most often be found in coastal zones up to 10 meters deep.

Red Aetchna

Despite Lachoba being located quite close to Guralta, it seems the freshwater systems of Lachoba have been mostly isolated from Guraltan freshwater for a very long time. Because of this one can find some peculiar fish swimming between the vegetation in the murky rivers and lakes of Lachoba. Just one example of this is a particularly archaic bunnyfish that has likely been living here since long before Lachoba became an island continent.

The red aetchna (Lagesox rubicundus) is one of several species of somewhat pike like bunnyfish living in Lachoba. The name "aetchna" is, like many other names we use to designate animals on Eryobis, borrowed from a word that the natives use for it. 

These fish grow to about a meter in length and are known to be vicious and aggressive. With multiple rows of sharp, recurved teeth, an aetchna does not let go once it has bitten into its prey. Since their teeth are not serrated, they often fiercely thrash around to rip chunks of flesh off if their prey is not small enough to swallow whole.

Typically solitary and not particularly opposed to cannibalism, aetchna's are known to try to feed on pretty much anything that moves. This makes them a great target for native fishing efforts as they are quite easy to catch. It is said that their meat is toxic unless smoked, but studies are yet to confirm or deny this.

Aetchna's and a few other archaic bunnyfish were at first thought to be related to the Odontocoeiida (the toothed coeaaien), based on a number of physical characteristics. Recent genetic studies have shown however, that aetchna's are not only unrelated to toothed coeaaien, but that they in fact predate the majority of other living bunnyfish and are likely to have split off between 100 and 110 million years ago, somewhere in the early Anaktisian. Whether they have always lived exclusively in Lachoba or if this is their last stronghold remains unknown as of now.

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 appear 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.