Glowfish

The glowfish is a common fish in the waters of the frozen sea. During summer they disappear but their return in the end of autumn marks the beginning of the winter while their disappearance marks the comming of spring. Glowfish are small fish, rarely longer than 40cm. They live in large schools. During night their luminescense can light up the horisont as if the sun was rising - thats how they got their nickname Aurorafish. The name is no understatement, their mating dance is keeping up with the northern lights that rush over the skies during the long dark during winter, hence its sometimes called "aurora oceanis".  

Habitat

The glowfish live in the frozen sea. During summer they feed on the algea and small shrimp in the high arctic when the ice retreats further north. When the ice returns the fish come back to the southern shore where they mate and lay their eggs that will hybernate and hatch when tempetratures rise again during spring.  

Biology

Glowfish live in large schools of several hundret thousand individuals. Like underwater-locusts they roam the seas and feed on tiny shrimp and algae. This causes the whole population to constantly follow their food in the high arctic during summer and return south during spring and summer.   They got their name from the glowing organs they have on their flanks, some scholar think they use them to communicate, some say they use them to scare of predators, some say its a little bit of both. None can say for sure. But the aurora oceanis during mating season in the hight of winter is a sight to behold when the fish seem to battle the skies on who can shine brighter. The golden glow from the deeps, caused by millions of fish, meeting the green, red, violett, yellow and white northern lights that rush across the skies.   The fish has a hatchet-shaped body with a broad jaw which lacks any kind of teeth - they just filter the water and gulp down their prey whole.  

Human use

Known for having a very special flavour, glowfish are quite common in the pots, pans and kettles of Olim and other coastal towns along the shores of the frozen sea. Because they are attracted by light so much, fishermen figured out early on that they can be lured into their nets by using large rafts with big fires on top. The glowfish were the reason why Olims "Fire-fleet" was born. A group of fishermen who specialiced in catching the fish by hunting them together with multiple rafts and floating torches.  

Meals & Recipes

Glowfish are deeply rooted in Olims kitchen and to some extend also in the recipes of Svedero who buy a lot of preserved (smoked or salted) glowfish. Their special flavour and great numbers made them the "bread and butter-fish" for most of Olim.   Fishsticks The most common way of cooking glowfish is to roll them in breadcrumbs and fry them in shallow pans. Most people just mix dried bread, one or two eggs and spices if they can afford some, roll the fish in the batter and fry them. If you arrive in Olim, you will most likely find a lot of small vendors that sell stickfish amongst other things.   Its called stickfish because the fish loose their hatchetshaped form after gutting and frying and look more like sticks then.   Smoked glowfish A common food for spring and early autumn when the days are still cold or are getting colder again. After smoking the fish for a while the high percentage of fat in the fish becomes obvious and gives it a very rich and rounded taste. During summer most people prefer salted glowfish though.   Salted glowfish Since many people dont like smoked food during summer a cook once salted them and preserved them in a vinegar-brine which gives it a more fresh taste, better suited for hot summer days.   Glowing soup The glowing soup is something special. If the glowfish are beeing kept alive you can harvest the essence from their gloworgans which will continue to glow for a few hours when heated. Some rich people impress their guests with a diner in darkness, while the whole table is luminated by glowfish-essence. But you might can imagine how difficould and thus pricy it is to catch fish and keep them alive for a while when glowfish are especially prone to die quickly in captivity.