HOME | DD

Description
The common stormlet, descended from the European weatherfish, begins its life in the water, a larval stage more closely resembling a fish, by having a dorsal and tail fin as well as longer whiskers. Stormlets breed when the water's warmest, during late spring through the mid summer. They live a mainly crepuscular and nocturnal existence in semi clear waters, navigating with their highly sensitive barbels through the murky darkness. These larvae, called stormlings, will feed mainly on detritus and plankton, however as they grow they begin to consume small aquatic invertebrate, swarming together in massive groups. Over the course of two weeks they will loose their caudal and dorsal fins, shorten their barbels, and their pectoral fin will become smaller and more hand-like. The stormlings instinctively flee to land, wriggling up the shoreline and remaining there for long periods of time to avoid predation by marimares, capable of breathing air like their ancestors. Upon reaching adulthood, they will use their pectoral fins and muscled body to dig a burrow in the soft earth, each of which will have an entrance tunnel into the water. They also construct a sort of centeral 'indoor pool' where they lay massive amounts of eggs. The females and males will enter the pool together to spawn, after which they kind of forget about the eggs, providing no further parental care. Within about a week the eggs will hatch and the infants will collectively squirm up out of the pool and down the tunnel into the water, overwhelming the marimares such that there is no way to eat them all. Like their ancestors, the stormlets are highly sensitive to changes in air pressure preceding a thunderstorm and will react by becoming more active.

Description
The common stormlet, descended from the European weatherfish, begins its life in the water, a larval stage more closely resembling a fish, by having a dorsal and tail fin as well as longer whiskers. Stormlets breed when the water's warmest, during late spring through the mid summer. They live a mainly crepuscular and nocturnal existence in semi clear waters, navigating with their highly sensitive barbels through the murky darkness. These larvae, called stormlings, will feed mainly on detritus and plankton, however as they grow they begin to consume small aquatic invertebrate, swarming together in massive groups. Over the course of two weeks they will loose their caudal and dorsal fins, shorten their barbels, and their pectoral fin will become smaller and more hand-like. The stormlings instinctively flee to land, wriggling up the shoreline and remaining there for long periods of time to avoid predation by marimares, capable of breathing air like their ancestors. Upon reaching adulthood, they will use their pectoral fins and muscled body to dig a burrow in the soft earth, each of which will have an entrance tunnel into the water. They also construct a sort of centeral 'indoor pool' where they lay massive amounts of eggs. The females and males will enter the pool together to spawn, after which they kind of forget about the eggs, providing no further parental care. Within about a week the eggs will hatch and the infants will collectively squirm up out of the pool and down the tunnel into the water, overwhelming the marimares such that there is no way to eat them all. Like their ancestors, the stormlets are highly sensitive to changes in air pressure preceding a thunderstorm and will react by becoming more active.