Sunlight Sturgeon
Sunlight sturgeons are a large fish species native to the Sunspot Isles on Auvarha. These magical fish imbue the energy of the stars, bringing light wherever they swim. Due to the nature of these animals, consuming a large amount can have negative effects on the brain.
Eating too much sturgeon meat causes sundance syndrome in vampires, where the person experiences the overwhelming urge to overindulge in sunlight. Overexposure to sunlight causes rashes and blisters, eventually worsening to the point of fatality.
Taxonomy
These fish are in the genus Huso, alongside several other magical sturgeon species. The genus is predominantly filled with endangered or at-risk sturgeon species, due to overfishing and poaching.
Anatomy
Sunlight sturgeons are one of the largest freshwater fish on Auvarha, adults reaching a typical length of two to three metres, some reaching six. They are quite slender animals, bulking up as juveniles reach adulthood.
Overfishing prevents most sturgeons reaching a length over a metre - the world record for the longest sunlight sturgeon is over three hundred years old, the fish reaching eight and a half metres from snout to tail.
These fish are easily identifiable thanks to their bright colouration. A pair of pink scutes runs from above the eye to to tail. Scales above these scutes are a yellow colour, and pink below. Bottom fins are a slightly darker pink, with even darker splotches. These splotches are the easiest way to identify a fish, as each individual has a slightly different pattern.
Sunlight sturgeons have long, feathery barbels, with similar appendages extending from the back.
Diet
Careful, these fish are a bit nippy. They'll try and bite your hand off. Thankfully they don't actually have teeth, they just vacuum everything in.
Sunlight sturgeons are carnivorous fish, hunting in the deep pelagic zones of the lakes in the Sunspot Isles. These ring islands have some of the largest lakes on the planet, giving massive amounts of space for these fish to thrive.
They are apex predators - lightning fast swimmers, they dodge other predators and snatch up prey faster than anything else. They can only be outmatched in their younger stages. Adult sturgeons can use flashes of light to deter other predators, a trick that juvelines struggle to master. These fish will also use their giant red eyes to create illusions in the water, confusing other fish.
Reproduction & Growth
Sturgeons are anadromous, migrating to shallow waters to lay their spawn. Thousands of miniscule pink eggs are laid in a single clutch, with hundreds of sturgeons gathering in one spawning ground. Several of these grounds exist in the wild, around densely forested lake edges where predators seldom reach.
Spawn hatch and grow into juveniles around these spawning grounds, migrating after six months into deeper waters. They are a fast growing fish, reaching sexual maturity at just five years of age. The lifespan of this species is around thirty to fifty years in the wild, but thanks to overfishing, few reach this age.
Habitat
Sunlight sturgeons are endemic to the Sunspot Isles. The fish are only found within lakes on the two largest islands, Mosoto and Maseya. They can survive in waters of varying salinities, finding themselves around lakes, rivers, and coastlines of the Sunspot Isles.
They were once widespread across the archipelago and neighbouring regions, but their territory has been diminished thanks to mass overfishing. Sturgeons prefer open waters, avoiding thin rivers and reefs.
At 6 meters long, WHAT PREDATES ON THESE? Typos: "...due to overfishinh and poaching." & "Sunlgiht sturgeons are carnivorous fish..."
hahaha wrote this while I was half-asleep, sorry for the typos! It doesn't have predators itself, but it does have to fight other animals for access to food!