Gobbler

Anatomy

One of the biggest yet slowest fish in Lake Kay and its surrounding calderas and lakes, gobblers are a purplish colour with some orange accents. They have an overall round appearance, with incredibly large mouths (hence the name). A pair of horizontally slit eyes sit on the tops of their heads, which give them view of the lakes above as they swim close to the lakebeds. They have small, rounded dorsal fins, a large rounded caudal fin, a pair of small pectoral fins and a tiny anal fin. The colour of the gobbler depends on the quality of the water, with darker purple gobblers living in worse quality water and lighter purple gobblers living in better quality water.

Habitat

Gobblers are a fish species endemic to Red Rock Island, and only live in a select handful of calderas and lakes around the chain of volcanoes in the centre of the island. When I last visited Karai'a, I spotted hundreds of gobblers in Lake Kay and the rivers connected to it, as well as cooked gobbler meat sold in various stalls. Tastes nice.

Gobbler by Mochi

Geographic Distribution
Red Rock Island

Mating & Reproduction

Gobblers are not picky when it comes to finding mates. Usually it takes them about five minutes to find asuitable partner, and that is mostly because they cannot tell the difference between males and females, even when it is obvious to us. Gobblers don't stay with their mates either, in fact they find several new mates every year. Because of how fast gobblers reproduce, their offspring fill the rivers to the brim and during hatching season predator populations skyrocket.

Male gobblers are very aggressive towards babies that are not of their own. They have been known to attack and eat babies that aren't theirs, and I've seen this first hand. Very gruesome, did not like. To combat this, females will mate with as many males as possible, so when the babies hatch the males will not know if it their baby, and won't attack them. Surprisingly this method works, and male gobbler attacks on babies are fairly uncommon.

Parasitism

Gobblers share a parasitic relationship with rock slugs. Rock slugs are nasty little creatures that bite the bellies of fish and crustaceans, and slowly digest their insides without the host even noticing, only dying once the rock slugs make it to their vital organs. Worst case scenario is that rock slugs become so large that fish cannot swim, and become easy prey for predators on the lake and riverbeds.

Matokalan Delicacy

Since these fish are the most common thing to find in the lakes around Karai'a, gobblers have been caught and cooked ever since the matokale settled there. Fishing is a common activity too, and with the frequency at which gobblers are caught they are a cheap fish to buy. They can be prepared in many different ways, and the fat is used to flavour all kinds of other foods.

Diet

Short seagrasses are the perfect meal for gobblers. They use the flat rows of teeth in their mouths to shave off the tops of the grass, and their poop is so rich in nutrients that they help these seagrasses to grow faster. Gobblers have been seen taking on hands-on, sometimes even winning the battle and eating them.