Common Gilltails

The gilltails are an ancient lineage, first arising from the silverlings in the marine waters of Sagan 4 over 125 million years ago. Since that time, various populations of gilltails split into numerous species and genuses, filling various niches from tiny freshwater bottom-feeders, to titanic baleen hunters, from the deepest depth, to the skies. However, not all populations sought out a new way of life. These species are all a member of a lineage known as common gilltails, a basal forme genus that leaned towards maintaining the same general body plan and niche as a successful method of survival. This group includes the now superseded ancestral gilltail, which has branched into three dozen divergent, yet closely related, species. These species are defined mainly by the habitat where they breed, as instinct drives them to return to the habitat in which they were born, isolating them from other common gilltail populations and allowing drift.

Every species in the genus is migratory, typically entering equatorial waters during the winter before returning to the polar waters during summer months to breed. They live in large shoals, relying on their reflective counter-coloration to help break up their outlines and sheer numbers to protect them from predation. They hunt many sagani planktoids, such as the various swarmers, krillpedes, non-poisonous species of minifee among others. When in the polar regions the microbes bloom and the small filter feeders populations get huge for them to eat. They themselves are common prey of various organisms, acting as an abundant food source in the summer months for higher trophic level species.

Integrated Species

 * Gilltail