Lich Shark

Overview

Lich sharks are neither lich nor sharks, they instead are fish that, over the course of their lives, have their skin slowly dissolved to the bone due to their environment. This gives them a distinct and grim look, often scaring those who see them. They are however completely harmless.
These fish are the largest animals to be able to survive in a brine lake. They are native only to Grave Lake, a salt lake that connects to the Major Dawn Sea. Some people have recently introduced the lich sharks to other salt lakes and they are sometimes able to survive in these non-native lakes.

Anatomy

The body of a lich shark is specialized to survive within the Grave Lake. Their kidneys use up most of the energy they consume to expel excess salt from their bodies. This amount of energy expenditure means the fish has a slow going life, drifting slowly through the water in search of food. In addition to their kidneys, their gills secrete a heavy amount of a unique substance that absorbs some of the salt around their gills.
Despite these adaptions, the salt content takes a heavy toll on the fish's body. Slowly the salt dissolves the inside of the fish over their lifetime, causing older fish to look nearly like living skeletons. Eventually this disintegration causes organ failure in the fish, killing it.
Lich sharks have large, spiny pectoral fins to steer themselves around the lake. Compared to their body, their tails are rather small and only serve to move the fish short distances. The light gray scales of the fish are thick and hard which allows it to resist the strain the saline water puts on it.

Diet

The diet of a lich consists of the bacteria and algae that manages to grow within the lake. Sometimes the bacteria they eat begins to coat their bodies, allowing other lich sharks to clean and eat off the other fish. This behavior is seen even more around their mating time, with females preferring males that have more bacteria on them. Because of this, males rarely permit another fish to eat the bacteria off them.
When a lich shark dies, bacteria flourishes around their corpse. This flourish attracts dozens of fish to come and feast which led people to originally think they were cannibals.

Evolution

It is generally believed that the lich sharks evolved around the time of the ostresians. Many scholars agree that the magical nature of what the ostresians did to their bodies affected the ancestors of the lich sharks, allowing them to survive within the brine lake in the early days of their evolution. Even by the time the ostresians were gone, the minor magic influencing the fish and the adaptions they have already gained were enough to let them survive in the lake for good.

Hunting

Due to the stigma that surrounds the harmless fish, it is popular to hunt down the fish for sport or for a trophy. Hundreds of these fish are caught each year which has led drastically lowered the population. Their skeletons can be bought from multiple vendors around the lake. Many ships that sail the Major Dawn Sea display one (or more) of these fish, believing it will help ward off spirits.
Instead of killing the fish for a trophy, some people instead will buy a live fish to keep as a pet. Most people however see lich shark pets as an ill omen and avoid those who would keep them anywhere near themselves.