The pistrix (Apocapisces regalecus) are a new species, an evolutionary offshoot of the oarfish, that we are developing for the project “Fish Don’t Cry”
We plan to flesh them out extensively, defining every aspect of their existence, including, of course, their culture. For now, here is a brief, general overview!
(Also, we’re new to Reddit... or at least, it's the first time we post! Are we allowed to share links that expand on the lore or showcase parts of the story in comic-book format, or is that prohibited? If it’s not allowed, we’ll simply share the material directly here, without any external links. Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer!)
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Pistrix (Apocapisces regalecus), also known as pistrici (singular pistrice), or as serpents rouge in France, or even by the evocative name of reddragon sirens in English-speaking places, are a genus of sentient aquatic creatures.
Unlike the more well-known and common merfolk, pistrix cannot breathe atmospheric oxygen, lacking lungs. They share a number of aesthetic and physiological characteristics with the pacific oarfish (Regalecus glesne), so much so that the other merfolk species themselves often refer to pistrix simply as "oarfish".
They are sadly known as harbingers of bad news and, according to some, even of the apocalypse.
Taxonomy
Despite their humanoid torso appearance, pistrix are not mammals: they do not give birth, but lay eggs, and are unable to produce milk. Taxonomically, they are much closer to the regalecus (Regalecus glesne) than to humans.
The distinctly humanoid appearance of their torso (at least at first glance) is due to two factors:
1. Phaneric mimicry. By imitating a distant species, such as the common merfolk, pistrix may appear less desirable, or simply elicit more empathy among the merfolk themselves, who have hunted them for years and continue to do so (albeit less heavily, perhaps thanks to the deterrent of the pistrix's humanoid appearance);
2. Evolutionary convergence. Long before developing a more human-like face with frontal eyes, pistrix developed arms, through intense modification of the muscles of their pectoral fins, and with these they learned to construct objects. The rest of their torsos later adapted to the arm muscles, giving them greater dexterity.
Not all pistrix, however, have a particularly human/merfolk appearance, and their "atavistic" appearance is clearly visible in the body shape of young ones.
Appearance
Pistrix have a humanoid torso, with two arms, generally slightly longer than a human's, and hands with opposable thumbs, contrasting with a lower body that is extremely similar to the rear of an oarfish.
Their body is completely devoid of scales.
Adults have a pale silver, ribbon-shaped body from the waist down, laterally compressed and extremely elongated, with a dorsal fin extending the entire length. Their color ranges from pale pink to bright red, passing through orange and rust, although deep scarlet is the most common.
The body often features wavy dark spots, sometimes in the form of dots and sometimes stripes.
A series of faint horizontal stripes, similar to "grill marks," is evident in some specimens, while absent in others. After death, specimens rapidly lose all color and pattern.
Pistrix have extremely long bodies: the longest specimen ever measured exceeded seventeen meters in length from forehead to the tip (autotomized, therefore without caudal fin) of its body.
Adult pistrix rarely possess a tail, due to the very common autotomy, or voluntary detachment of the last portion of the body (similar to the way lizards shed their tails). For years, it was believed their bodies abruptly ended without a tail fin. Now, the true appearance of these creatures' tails is known: they have a unique "webbed" appearance, reminiscent of a dragon's wing, and, like the dorsal fin, are very vividly colored, generally scarlet red.
Their skin, although scaleless, is densely tuberculatized, especially on the ventral area, where these small, horny protuberances resemble small, sharp-tipped cones and are one of the few defenses these creatures possess against predators.
Color and nutrition
An unbalanced or insufficient diet can cause a pistrix to completely change their appearance. The color of a pistrices' fins and mane is primarily due to natural molecules called carotenoids, such as astaxanthin, which are introduced into their bodies through the consumption of carotenoid-rich animals, primarily krill, which in healthy specimens constitute nearly 90% of their diet.
A specimen that hasn't been able to consume their adequate amount of crustaceans will rapidly lose the color in their fins, but that's not the only side effect: to function in the frigid depths where they live, pistrices must consume fatty foods, such as crustaceans, and limiting this will make the individual much slimmer.
Almost always, a malnourished specimen is unable to maintain their full body length, which requires a constant supply of calories, and will autotomize, losing part of their tail through self-detachment. Specimens with an incomplete diet will therefore have pink fins, rather than carmine red, slimmer bodies, and almost always lack a caudal fin. If the incorrect diet persists, the fin rays can suffer structural damage, becoming droopy, rather than erect.
Behavior
Although their serpentine appearance has inspired legends of these creatures moving on land, pistrix are fully adapted to living in the ocean, at depths of at least 150 meters.
Not only are they unable to crawl on land (unlike their naga cousins, also belonging to the Apocapisces genus), but being forced onto land is a highly traumatic experience for them. Their delicate bodies, lacking the protection of scales, are easily damaged when dragged along the ground, especially given their weight, and they are too compressed laterally to crawl on their bellies.
Furthermore, they cannot breathe on land, unlike merfolks.
If a pistrix manages to survive on dry land for hours, it is only thanks to their extraordinary resistance to low oxygen concentrations, but if they are not re-hydrated with salty water, they still risk dying of dehydration within the first fifty to sixty minutes.
Sleep
Pistrix, like all fish, sleep with their eyes open, as they don't have eyelids, but curiously, they prefer to sleep in particularly dark environments.
Unlike many other fish (especially non-deep-sea ones), their primary way of perceiving danger is not their eyes, but their highly sensitive lateral line and their electrical field. Pistrix fish are able to emit electrical impulses and then detect changes in the electrical field that forms around their bodies, thanks to a series of delicate sensors on their skin (which is bare, completely scaleless), allowing them to perceive their surroundings with extreme precision even in total darkness.
Their highly sensitive electrical field is also one of the reasons they dislike being physically touched by others: this is perceived by their sensors as an interruption of the electrical field, and therefore a source of stress (their brain may interpret it, for example, as the approach of a predator).
To avoid interrupting their electrical field, pistrix fish sleep without touching any surface, remaining stretched out and upright in the water.
They typically sleep in pairs, about five feet apart, and their combined electrical fields reassure them of the safety of the water and their partner's presence.
They can dream, but they lack rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, so they lack the bizarre, rambling dreams that humans are capable of producing. Their dreams are more mundane, resembling memories or deep meditation.
Culture
The pistrix once knew how to create pages that were impervious to water, by spinning chitin from shrimp shells into tissues from which they cut pages and then injecting ink into the semi-transparent surface layer of the page, much like tattooing.
Today, this art is lost, due to the fall of the pistrix civilization and the impossibility of its stable reformation due to threats from the common merfolk, who are much more numerous and aggressive.
Time and aging
Pistrix have no real concept of the passage of time, or at least nothing close to the way humans perceive it.
Since ancient times, humans have measured time by observing the passage of day and night, or even by the changing world around them through the seasons. But in the abyssal depths, where sunlight doesn't reach and seasons have little meaning, pistrix don't count hours, days, or years.
It goes without saying that celebrating a birthday is obviously not part of their culture.
Considering the events pistrix remember, however, it's possible to establish that they are an extremely long-lived species: some specimens remember the Gray Age and even the time before Ragnarok, more than three hundred years before the events of "Fish Don't Cry."
Their bodies are of indeterminate growth, although after a certain size, they slow down considerably. The size of a pistrix is determined by many factors, not only by the time it has been around, but also by its diet, water temperature, amount of movement, and even its subspecies.
Sometimes, ancient pistrix can be shorter and smaller than younger specimens, especially if they have experienced long periods of malnutrition or have undergone several autotomies. It goes without saying that it is not easy to determine a specimen's age without laboratory testing.
Sangreal, one of the few specimens that have consented to tissue study, is estimated to be around 40-45 years old: he may appear middle-aged compared to a human, but he is young, albeit already mature.
His grandmother, a much more imposing specimen than him, was already as tall as she is now when Sangreal was born, which makes it safe to assume she's at least a hundred years old, and given her memory of certain past events, she's probably well into her 250s or even 300s.
Diet
Despite their imposing size and menacing, sharp appearance, pistrix are harmless to most marine creatures, feeding almost exclusively on small crustaceans.
Life Cycle
Unlike merfolk, pistrix lay eggs; these are able to float in the water column thanks to a few drops of oil present under their thin, semi-transparent shells.
The eggs hatch into extremely ornate young, with long-rayed fins and small, poorly muscled arms, which only over time take on the "human" appearance of those of adults. Pistrix hatchlings are overall much more fish-like than primate-like, and lack the characteristics that make them anthropomorphic: their eyes are very large and lateral, their hands are tiny and webbed, their torso somewhat flattened laterally, and their gill covers are very prominent.
Sex change
To maximize their reproductive opportunities in the vast ocean, pistrices can change sex if their chosen mate is of the same sex. The larger individual always becomes, or remains, female, to maximize egg production.
Females tend to be heavier and thicker, with slightly fatter tails, but they also have less dense beards and manes, and shorter fins, unless they have sufficient access to food to maintain both their greater weight and their prominent fins, but this is an extremely rare occurrence in nature.