Purple Snood

In the aftermath of the Cish Plague, a population of Snoodcish grew larger and completely left the oceans, producing the Purple Snood. Following the path its ancestor unintentionally set, the Purple Snood uses only 3 of its jaws for feeding and prey capture, with the “snood” jaw being completely reduced to a sexual display feature which is only present at all in males (pictured). In the females, the snood is replaced by a stump, which is only large enough to house the gills. Its rasps are fully calcified, increasing the effectiveness of its digging ability.

With the changes to the snood jaw, the Purple Snood functionally has an asymmetrical mouth with 3 jaws. The 2 lower jaws are generally used to dig under prey to capture them, and they are used in combination with the upper jaw to manipulate and crush prey. The Purple Snood also developed electroreceptors on the ends of its jaws that allow it to detect burrowing food, such as Crestgills, just under the sediment.

Much like its ancestor, the Purple Snood has a distinct breeding season in the autumn. However, no longer living in the ocean, it does not have to travel far to a suitable spawning ground and it is not even tied to any one river or stream. Thus, they almost never die after breeding. However, the courting process remains the same; like a turkey, the males flap their bright fins and show off their snoods. Males dig shallow nests in the mud with their snoods, where the females then lay their eggs to be fertilized. The adults then leave their spawning grounds to avoid competing with their own offspring until they return next mating season.