Anji Shrimp

A unique crustacean which usually only appears amid the wet season in the Shamsi Desert, Birit Narim and Kemet though some might make their homes within desert oases and wadis. Extraordinarily tenacious, their eggs lay dormant within desert sands for years at a time awaiting rain. Even as eggs, they absorb radiant energy in their environment and store this away until its time to hatch. Cousin species from all across Emynea are usually waterbound but some anji shrimp are capable of taking to the air during the day thanks to Rithaldis' Movement! However, they are rather slow and showy, making an ideal snack for many predators, only capable of brief bursts of speed while swimming along sunlight. Most who survie the rainy season remain in the safety of oases, lighting up these pools of water like tiny stars. But the largest number of Anji shrimp emerge when rain finaly arrives! Consumer Prey Diurnal Nocturnal Gregarious

Kaithur

First Ability Rithaldis' Charge Thanks to Rithaldis' Charge, Anji shrimp can store up radiant energy inside their bodies without limit and cannot be harmed by radiant energy. This includes sunlight, radiation and solar plasma. Anji can convert this into magic energy, empower their body with it or re-release it like an Aura at will. However, they cannot generate radiant energy, this ability useless without an outside source! Second Ability Rithaldis' Movement Rithaldis' Movement allows these crustaceans to swim or move freely on or through radiant energy such as beams of sunlight or irradiated waters. They can also briefly turn into sunlight and travel in a given direction before reforming, moving at the speed of light! However, this quickly eats up what little energy is contained in their tiny bodies. Rithaldis' Slip Shrimp inheriting Rithaldis' Slip can allow their body to interact with physical matter similarly to radiant energy, most objects passing right through them! This transformation can be into sunlight, radiation or even solar plasma, sometimes burning their attackers. Their flesh changes over only where they are being touched and quickly reverts back once the foreign object is removed, the caster not consciously controlling the effect. To ordinary eyes these anji shrimp may appear an illusion, untouchable but beautiful. Zuvaath's Fertility Anji shrimp with Zuvaath's Fertility are able to increase the fertility of other invertebrates and aid in the healthy development of and birth of their young. Some females of this species generally inherit this ability, boosting the fertility and development of young for all fellow shrimp in their environment, sometimes even doubling the healthy eggs produced!

Anatomy

These are active swimmers which need temperatures of 77 F (25 C) or higher to survive. Their bodies is split into twenty segments, 11 of these being an anchor for their leaf like phyllopodia (swimming legs). Unlike other crustaceans, Anji lack a carapace, their exoskeleton thin and flexible. They also have two compound eyes on noticeable eye stalks alongside two pairs of antennae, two small and two long and cylindrical.

Original Ancestor
Streptocephalus proboscideus Fairy Shrimp
Lifespan
Up to 9 months
Size
1.2 in 3 cm
Coloration
Naturally translucent to black, their exoskeleton takes on a bright white sheen in their magic form. Their whole body and especially their fluttering legs glimmer and flicker like sunlight!

Diet and Habitat

Zooplanktonivore Detrivore Algivore Bacterivore Desert Freshwater Rural Semi-Desert Like many shrimp, they are filter feeders and are able to filter 2 litres of water in a day. With a tendency to swim upside down, Anji filter organic particles like bacteria, microzooplankton and detritus with their legs or will scrape algae from surfaces. Most anji shrimp live within shallow rain pools in the rainy season but the most mobile of these crustaceans live within wadis and oases. They usually spend the night hiding within these waterways and emerge during the day to soak in sunlight or feed.

Life Cycle

Oviparous Asexual Cloning Promiscuous Precocial Most of this species mature in less than two weeks of life and they are even capable of asexual reproduction when mates aren't available! They only breed during the rainy season and their numbers are always low outside of this window, limited to the oases of the Shamsi Desert. But as the desert floods amid the rainy season, Anji eggs spattered across the desert come to life. Eggs laying dormant in dried mud for motnths if not years hatch all at once, mass swarms of Anji shrimp glittering across the desert! A sheer explosion of these slow, featherlike shrimp draw in all manner of invertivores, birds and fish among others drawn into the flooded sands which thrive with life during this lush but ephemereal rainy season. Females can lay 100-300 eggs in 35-40 clutches in her lifespan or as much as double this amount with the aid of Zuvaath's Fertility. She needs to find a new mate between each clutch, producing as many young as possible to combat their position in he food chain--most if not all are slated to be gobbled up within the short span of their lives! Anji readily spread into new habitats while their numbers are highest, scattering across seasonal rivers and lakes and leaving innumberable eggs behind. Waterways glisten with their fluttering, solar bodies while others meander delicately through the air. Predators greedily snap them up before they get their chance to journey across the desert, filling their bellies amid glittering swarms. And when these waters inevitably dry up, their eggs enter a state of dormancy called diapause, capable of withstanding harsh drought, frost, hypersalinity, desiccation, exposure to radiation and even the vacuum of space! Even if they are dug up or disturbed they can survive in this state, sometimes even hitching a ride to new locations on the wind or in the hooves of grazers! Their hibernation will last until they are submerged in water, capable of waiting even for centuries.