The vesh were a species of fish native to Neroth. Consummate bottom feeders, vesh were known as "cleaner fish" due to their feeding habits.
Description[]
Vesh were small fish, with thin tube-like bodies. Vesh were mottled green in color, with the body being lighter green than the wavy markings it sported. They possessed a pair of pectoral fins about midway along their bodies, with a smaller pair of ventral fins not far behind. Their tails bore a trio of thin spines, two at the top and one along the bottom, capped with a slender caudal fin. A razor-thin dorsal fin traced down the back of the fish. Each fin was light green like the body, but gradually turned blue towards the end.
Vesh had no eyes and were completely blind. Their heads terminated in a number of stubby tentacles, which the fish used to root and dig through the silt of the seafloor. These tentacles filtered and pushed algae, their preferred food, or bits of organic debris and waste into their sucker-like mouths, which was located along the relatively flat underside of their bodies. Vesh fish were able to "see" thanks to these tentacles, which were able to sense vibrations in the water, as well as a series of specialized bioelectric electroreceptors at the front of their heads, which sensed electric fields - particularly those generated by other living things.
They were bottom feeders, but also exhibited symbiotic behavior with larger aquatic species: vesh would sometimes use their sucker-like mouths and tentacles to latch onto or dislodge external parasites, which they then consumed. They were completely harmless to larger animals, relying only on a coating of mucus for defensive purposes. Due to their diet, vesh were considered to be unpalatable, with their meat having a sour taste and slimy texture.
Behind the scenes[]
The fish's use of electrorecptors to detect electrical fields in the water was inspired by the ampullae of Lorenzini organs primarily found in sharks and rays.