Skyfish

A skyfish resembles a silvery sea bass with broad, bat-shaped wings covered in scales. Its mouth bristles with fierce teeth for seizing and tearing small fish, and tiny claws at the joints of its wings let it grip things when it is not flying. Underwater it folds the wings tight against its body to swim smoothly; to fly, it simply bursts from the surface and spreads them.

Skyfish usually hunt alone, wheeling high over the water until a small fish strays near the surface. Then they dive, seize it in their jaws and carry it aloft until it suffocates, returning to the water to eat. They ignore people unless provoked, which mostly happens when one takes a fisher's bait meant for something else. Hauling it in is a real struggle, but the reward is one of the most sought-after delicacies in a hidden city-state.

Skyfish pair for life and lay large, birdlike eggs in underwater nests. While eggs or young need guarding, one parent stays home and the other brings back food. Normally solitary hunters, they occasionally gather into flocks to bring down larger prey.

Breathing air and water with equal ease, a skyfish can flee any predator limited to one element, so their numbers stay high. Only steady fishing by the people of a hidden inland sea keeps them from overrunning their sunken valley, and a sharp fisher rarely waits long to find one in the nets.