Adzanian Seas

The Adzanian isles are a hotspot for aquatic life. The seas are full of saltrees and coral reefs. During the winter, the seas face lots of storms. These storms shift reefs and protect the coastline from flooding. During the summer, the saltree forests absorb most of the floodwaters and the reefs experience a boost in biodiversity in turn. The reefs also experience small algal blooms from debris and storm runoff, which has produced extremely hardy corals that bring the population of corals back from near extinction.

Mop Urchins

Mop Urchins (humusmagnes), or commonly known as mops, are a genus of urchin found in the Indo-Pacific, but are at their most prevelant in the Adzanian Isles. Mops measure in at 5 inches in diameter. Their body is an indigo color with small white spines and light green pedicles.

Their diet consists of algae and detritus, which are abundant in the waters near the Adzanian Isles. By eating algae, they prevent carbon sinks and algal blooms, which cement Mops as a keystone species that protect the adzanian reefs from ecosystemal collapse. 

Their small spines pick up lots of detritus and algae that stick to the Mops. The gunk getting stuck in their spines helps them camouflage and hide from predators such as pufferfish, stingrays, and aquatic vertebrates. Mops formed a symbiotic relationship with Cleaner Tetras, a species of euryhaline schooling fish descended from yellow-tailed African Tetras. The tetras feed off of the debris and lay their eggs in the urchin's spines.

Poopfish

Poopfish (anusinquilinus) are a genus of Pipefish. They are descended from the Long-head Pipefish. They are found in the brackish and salty waters of the Adzanian isles. Poopfish come in a pink and purple coloration. They measure in at 4 inches in length and 1 cm in diameter.

Their diet consists of small crusteaceans. They hunt in a similar way to other pipefish, however, they hunt out of the anus of a sea cucumber. The thin body of the Poopfish allows them to slink up the digestive tract of the sea cucumber and make their home in there. The large endemic sea cucumbers in the Adzanian Isles are descended from the pink and black Sea Cucumber and come in at 2 feet in length. 

Crusteaceans that get kicked up by the sea cucumber moving are quickly slurped up by the Poopfish. Any attempts to get the fish out of the cucumber are pointless because there isn't anything preventing the Poopfish from just returning. Poopfish fathers excrete their hatchlings from the brood pouch and into his shelter to keep them safe, he then leaves and finds a new sea cucumber.

Maasietimu

Maasietimu (water-spear in Talinga-Bwisi) are a small genus of lionfish endemic to the East Africa. They belong to the genus Hunterinsomnium. Maasietimu can be found inhabiting salinity zones ranging from low brackish to saltwater. They are descended from the widespread Red Lionfish. They measure in at 14 inches in length. 

Maasietimu have the same venomous spines as their ancestors, except they are much smaller. The first dorsal spine near the head however is exeptionally long and contains more venom than the other spines. When hunting, Maasietimu use a small muscle to shift their dorsal spine fowards towards their target. They then pin their other spines to their sides and jet forwards, lancing it's prey with its largest spine and injecting a large dose of venom. They oftentimes hunt in packs to take down large prey that break up as soon as all members are fed. They prey on squid, octopus, small-medium sized fish, and sometimes aquatic mammals and reptiles.

Their mating season occurs in the winter. The male and female engage in an elaborate courtship dance involving fin shaking, and choreographed swimming. Eggs will be deposited onto a rock or a piece of driftwood and the leftover hatchlings will return to the isles after a planktonic stage.

Lakwata

Lakwata (marenaja) are a genus of aquatic cobra descended from the banded water cobra. Lakwata share the name of an East African sea serpent. They measure in at 3 feet in length and have a vertical paddle-shaped tail with very smooth scales. They are a maroon color with tan splotches and a white underside to match the coloration of reef rocks and mud of the saltree forests. 

Lakwata are highly venomous and flash their bright red hood at many predators when threatened. Despite their potent venom, they never use it while hunting and only use it for self defense. Their diet consists of small fish as well as fish eggs. They ambush their live prey by hiding in the substrate and holes in rocks. They pick up the movement of their prey through vibrations in the water and keen sense of smell, which overrides their poor eyesight. Lakwata can wait for prey underwater for up to 30 minutes at a time due to their expanded lung capacity and C02 tolerance.

When night falls, they return to their dens in the coastal rocks. During breeding season, females turn their burrow into a nursing ground. There are about 60 hatchlings that recieve barely any care. As soon as the cobras hatch, they immediately go out to sea. Out of the clutch, only 1-2 survive into adulthood.

Snotfaces

Snotfaces (protopterus litumpedes) are a species of lungfish found in the Adzanian Isles. They are mostly aquatic and spend their time in the rivers, but can also swim in low-brackish estuaries while they wait for the tides to fall. They come in a maroon color with pale green spots covering their body. They measure in at 3 feet in length.

Whenever the tides fall, they hunt in the saltree forests covered in a thick layer of mucus to protect them from dehydration. They "walk" on their wider and stronger fins to look for crabs and shellfish to crush between the plates in their mouths. They were forced into further terrestrial tolerance and slight salinity tolerance by water pollution, sea level rise, and the east african rift growing in the holocene-calidocene boundary. 

Snotfaces are able to survive low brackish water by storing more urea. This was already present in lungfish during their estavation stage. The estavation stage is an irregular period where environmental stress causes the snotfaces to cover themselves in mucus in their burrow. They also make burrows on the riverbank as a nest. 

The eggs are kept in an eggsac of thick mucus and regularly hydrated by both parents. When the time comes, the 20 hatchlings arrive. During their juvenile stage, Snotfaces have external gills, which slowly shrink as their lungs develop. Instead of relying on their parents to hunt for them, they eat insects under careful parental supervision. When danger presents itself, the hatchlings will hide inside of their parents mouths. Whenever their parents are out hunting, the hatchlings have to hunt on their own, leading to a high mortality rate. Only about 3 out of 20 hatchlings make it to adulthood. They leave their parents and become adults as soon as their lung fully develops.