Deep Ocean Fish

Bloated, clumsy swimmers, anglers let prey come to them. Most dangle a wormlike or glowing lure on a modified fin ray; others grow a luminous lump on the roof of the mouth, which in fantastic species may mimic a pile of sunken treasure or a lovely mermaid inside a toothy 'cave.' Most are fist-sized, though one shallow-water kind eats ducks and geese. An angler bites once for 2d8, then simply holds on and digests the victim for 1d8 per round, its inward-curving teeth making release impossible. Some fantastic species have working hooks that snag prey for 1d4 and pull it in for an automatic bite that round. Its poor Armor Class lets stabbing weapons through easily, but every wound to the fish also wounds whatever it has swallowed. Usually only the females hunt; the tiny male clings to his mate like a lamprey and lives off her. The flesh is edible but bland.

Unknown undersea sorcerers, possibly aboleths or sahuagin, created this bright orange, 2-inch guardian for dark lairs and treasure vaults. It senses prey with pressure-sensitive lateral lines and has an innate power resembling enlarge and reduce. It swims up looking harmless, balloons to giant-angler size, sucks the victim in and then shrinks both of them back down, so the target seems to vanish into thin air. The swallow itself does no harm, but digestive juices deal 1d6 per round until rescue or death. Weapons hurt the minnow and its captive alike, and even bloated the tiny fish dodges most blows. It never lets go; once it dies, the victim returns to normal size. Dispel magic forces a shrunken minnow to its full 8 feet, making it easy to hit. There are no wild ones, and they may not even have sexes. The blood goes into enlarge or shrink scroll ink, and the flesh tastes like kippered herring.

Up to 12 feet long, a gulper is a vast mouth trailed by an endless tail. It can take prey several times its own size, hunting by lateral lines rather than its small upward-facing eyes, and some have a glowing tail tip as a lure. The vurgens is a giant relative from shallower water. It bites once for 2d8, swallows the victim the next round and digests it for 1d8 per turn; cutting through its soft flesh to free someone deals the same damage to the prisoner. Its tail can also constrict for 1d6 a round, gripping anything smaller than size G. Gulpers live alone and eat anything, and a parent may shelter young in its mouth until hunger makes leaving wise. Their delicate flesh is good eating, and their skin might make a fine bag of holding.

Among the fiercest deep hunters, the viperfish roams after prey instead of waiting. Rows of lights like portholes run along its flanks, glowing patches line its mouth, and whiplike chin growths act as motion-sensing antennae. Natural ones range from 1 1/2 inches to 6 feet; monstrous ones may top 20 feet. It bites once for 1d20, then swallows, its backward-slanting teeth caging the prey and trapping the fish too if the meal proves too big. Some use the chin whip as a constricting tentacle for 1d8. Stomach acid deals 1d8 per round, and any slashing or piercing damage to the fish hits the prisoner as well. Viperfish meet only to mate and abandon their eggs. As roaming hunters they shape deep-sea life more than ambushers do; their flesh is edible but unpleasant.