Piscis pampinus (Tendril fish)

Common names: Tree fish, Jungle fish, Leaf mohok

Basic info

A young Piscis pampinus at flight. Its youth is made apparent by the relatively small size of his dorsal tendrils.

Description: Tendril fish have slim elongated bodies covered with grey-brown scales. The scales are rather large, and their pattern and coloration help camouflage the Tendril fish among the trees. They have pale-green eyes with omega iris, which allows adjustment of the amount of light that enters the eye. This is very useful considering the contrasting light conditions of their habitat.

The dorsal fins of the Piscis pampinus are fern-like leaf covered tendrils and are used for photosynthesis.

Tendril fish are photoautotrophic creatures, able to synthesize nutrition from light, using the leaf-covered tendrils that grow from the top of their body. In the past, it was assumed that these tendrils are a separate being, a plant with which Tendril fish have a symbiotic relationship. But it was since then discovered that the tendrils are in fact the rays of the dorsal fins, and are indeed a part of the Tendril fish physiognomy. The tendrils can be moved, but are not used for movement. Their sole purpose is to provide nutrition through photosynthesis. During the wet season, Tendril fish enjoy eating tree bark that was softened by the copious amounts of rain, but in the dry season they often live on photosynthesis alone.

For movement, Tendril fish use their large pectoral and tail fins. The pectoral fins are wings, with a similar bone structure to that of birds. Different from Flying fish (Exocoetidae), the wing bones of Tendril fish are connected to the spine, which allows the them to fly, as opposed to gliding. A series of rays grows from the bone base to create the infrastructure of the wings, over which skin is stretched. The wings range from clear to pale green, matching the strong tail fin, which aids directing the flight movement.

Tendril fish spend most of their time hovering and flying in the air, but do occasionally rest in a tree. They can nestle on a branch, but can also simply attach themselves to the trunk using their strong teeth.

Habitat: Tendril fish are found in tropical rainforests, particularly in the overstory and canopy areas at about 20-30 meters above ground.

Diet: A combination of photosynthesis and eating wet tree bark. Tendril fish can happily live on Photosynthesis during the dry season, when sunlight abounds, but during the wet season clouds often reduce the amount of available light. Thankfully, the same clouds pour down rains that soften the bark of trees just enough to make it easy for the Tendril fish to chew on.

Habits & Culture

Tendril fish are sequential hermaphrodites, that is to say that they change their sex as they mature. They are all born male, but once they reach a certain size, usually about 14 cm, they will change into females. This is because larger females can produce more eggs and thus provide better chances for reproduction. Sperm is smaller than eggs, so a good amount can be produced by a smaller fish. Changing their sex mid-life means that all adult Tendril fish can participate in the reproduction process, first as males, and once they pass a certain size, as females.

A cluster of Tendril fish eggs hidden in a tree trunk crevice.

Once a year, usually around early to mid November, female Tendril fish will lay their eggs in a crevice of tree-bark. Males will then release their sperm to fertilize the eggs. Tendril fish do not exhibit parental behaviour, and once the eggs and sperm are released the adults will leave the area, often to find another tree-bark crevice suitable as a nest. Distributing the eggs in several places means better chances of hatching, so that even if some of the nests are found by predators, others will survive.

Tendril fish do not have any offensive abilities, and their only defence is evading predators in flight, therefore the best chances they can offer their young are hidden and distributed nests. Each year a female will produce 800-1000 eggs, only about 50-60% of the eggs will successfully hatch after about three weeks, right in time for the beginning of the wet season.

Tendril fish develop their pectoral and dorsal fins during their larva stage. This illustration shows a young larva, about 3 weeks old, the skin of the wings began to develop, but the dorsal fins have not began to sprout yet.

Tendril fish larva do not have fully developed wings or the leafy dorsal fins of the adults, and must feed on wet tree-bark until they mature to their juvenile form at about 8 weeks.

Only 10-20% of the larva will reach juvenile form, some cannot find enough nutrition while others fall prey to birds, insects or other predators. But those who successfully reach their mature form, can spread their now functioning wings and fly up, stretching their new leafy tendrils towards the sun.

Tendril fish are unique air-born fish, with a physiology perfectly attuned to their environment, and a proof that some fish, are perfectly fine out of the water.