Painted Limn

• Head short and high, with pronounced maxillar gap.

• Jaw strong with a dentary gap of unknown origin.

• Underdeveloped Lanial apparatus.

 

• Armor thick and fused.

 

• Natal aculeus retained to adulthood.

• Second aculeus growing at the base of the Dorsal fin.

 

• Body high and laterally compressed.

 

• Pectoral fins elongated with sharp ends; spear shaped.

• Anal I and II underdeveloped.

• Dorsal fin growing at the base of the Gill tail.

• Caudal fins circular and underdeveloped.

 

• Gill tail reduced; Gill fan high ridged with steep caudal drop.

Polyandrous species.   The species mates in mid-autumn.   Mating happens in shallow waters near islands or in deeper waters near rocky surfaces. The two males of the pack will take turns mating with the female; each fertilizing half of the egg sacs.   After mating, the males of the pack will depart their separate ways to scout for prey; once one of the males picks up a track from an amphibian big enough for them, it will emit a powerful pheromone signal, acting much like a flare to the other two members.   Once the pack is back together they will start tracking the animal, the female coordinates the pack's movements. These animals can stalk their prey for days before making a move. Once the hunt starts, the female will instruct the males on where and how to strike; their final objective being the female attacking the Gill fan, while the males distract the victim; the female will suffocate the amphibian by tearing apart flesh and bone, destroying the respiratory ducts and filters.   Once their victim has died of asfixiation or bled out, the pack will start eating their way under the animal's skin, creating characteristic marks on its body; these marks are nesting sites for their eggs.   The female will lay her eggs on the animal's body and the males will push the eggs deep inside its flesh by pressing on them with their prehensile parapenis.   This will ensure the eggs are kept safe from predators and that the alevins will have food at birth.   The pack will abandon the eggs after spraying the carcass with their pheromones, keeping scavengers at bay, at least for a while.   The eggs hatch two weeks later and the underdeveloped alevins will eat their way out of what remains of the carcass. Given their size at birth, even if there are only a few chunks of meat remaining on the carcass, it will be enough to feed them and get them started.

The alevins will leave the first few years of their life as bottom feeding amphibians, eating invertebrates and smaller vertebrates.   Ontogenesis very marked in the species; spawns will have barely any fins, the body being eel-like. The head armor at birth is segmented, with the plates fusing during growth. Hatchlings will have a Segmented dorsal armor, which will slowly get reabsorbed with age; the Natal aculeus remains to adulthood in the species and will grow alongside the animal; one of the last dorsal plates will mutate in an aculeus with age.

Epipelagic animal found between 10 and 200 m deep.   They prefer warmer waters with plenty of space to hunt and swim about; these animals are exceptional swimmers, moving along vast stretches of ocean every year.

Predatory species feeding off of many big sized tropical amphibians; rarely seen supplementing their diet with plant matter.

Sexual maturity at seven years of age; alevins will live the first years of their life as bottom feeding amphibians.   Sexual sterility at seventeen years old; elderly specimens will leave the pack and wander alone.   Periannial species with no major changes in activity during the year.

Pack species.   They live in small packs of three; one female and two males.   They don't tolerate other packs in their territories.   Pretty complex social interactions and communicative skills.

Tropical belt.  

Exceptional eyesight and smell.

Affected by Intestinal Tube Worms and intraocular parasites. In a commensalistic relationship with many smaller amphibian species.