Kalothagh

Often called the prickleback and sometimes likened to a manticore of the sea, the kalothagh is a plump, pincushion-shaped fish bristling with four-foot spines. Dull green and brown blotches mottle its scales, and it has a smooth pink belly, clear fins, a dark fanned tail and tiny black eyes bulging up from its crown. Its jutting teeth form a small beak. Slow and not especially aggressive, it is still a confirmed man-eater.

Hidden in seaweed it is 80% undetectable. Its eye placement gives all-around sight, and it can shoot up to four of its 32 spines per round at a single target within 90 feet, anywhere except directly beneath it. Lost spines regrow in 1d6 weeks. Each hit has a 20% chance to lodge, and pulling out the fishhook-barbed quill tears for another 1d4. The beak deals a feeble 1-2.

Anyone in melee with it must make a Dexterity check at +2 each round or be impaled for 1-2 damage, taking another 1-2 every round they stay stuck. An impaled victim who does nothing but struggle pulls loose on a 50% chance each round, risking the usual tearing damage.

The spines carry a mild venom. Struck victims save vs. poison at +4; failure adds 2 damage and a +2 penalty to Armor Class for 2d6 hours. A given kalothagh's poison affects a victim only once per 24 hours.

Though not mindless, kalothagh rarely coordinate. They steer clear of foes that look very large or ferocious, never fight each other over food, and share any kill.

Kalothagh live in oceans everywhere but favor warm water, seldom roaming beyond a mile or so of rough lairs in undersea caves or seabed hollows. They decorate these with shiny gems scavenged from wrecks or stolen from other sea creatures' hoards.

Their spines make mating fatal to the male, and laying a single clutch of 10d6 spiny eggs kills the female.

Poison runs through the whole fish, so it cannot be eaten, and it has little trade value; sailors even treat one floating belly-up as an omen of financial ruin. When badly hurt (down 75% of its hit points or more) it inflates a long internal bladder and drifts upside down to the surface, deflating once danger passes. Some primitive peoples carefully break spines off dead ones for weapons, and a few have tried using the bladders as liquid containers, but these rot within weeks. The kalothagh eats any prey it can catch.