HOME | DD

Description
The Purple Pillowhead or Common Anvil (Decaperfluoichthys Ka'ahanuii) is a species of Decaperfluoichthyine Tracheocolumid from the Nuwadi Ocean.

Like all Decaperfluoichthynes, the Purple Pillowhead is characterized by the presence of ten filtering organs distributed in the frontal section of the cranium, a distinctive feature once compared to the much more common distribution of the filters along the neck seen in other sister taxa.

Unlike other Ithmosians, Pillowheads are born with a twelve filter layout, losing two of them as they mature by fusing the dorsalmost and ventralmost pairs into one larger filter, an ontogenic state only very rarely seen in the superclass.

Purple Pillowheads live deeper than other Ithmosids, at depths ranging from 250-900 m, where they filter particulate traveling down in the ocean column.

The forward-pointing filters are optimal for low current environments as they are not dependent on artificially channelled ocean currents to deliver the food to the ithmos.

The Purple Pillowhead was first discovered by Union fisherman Lani Ka'ahanui in 2409, while she was fishing for Flappers using nets.

The specimen was housed in a warehouse in Jan for study but was destroyed during the Civil War in 2411.

It would take another 15 years for another specimen to be recovered, a time in which her claim of the animal's existence was largely considered to be a hoax by the wider scientific community due to a lack of evidence to back up the claim.

Lani Ka'ahanui died of a Grappleskin infection in 2419, her biggest discovery being regarded as fake.

When a new specimen was eventually recovered in 2426, it was named in her honour.

Due to the rarity of one travelling up in the water column, sightings of these animals remain rare to this day.

Join the Community:

discord.gg/Ss24Yme

Description
The Purple Pillowhead or Common Anvil (Decaperfluoichthys Ka'ahanuii) is a species of Decaperfluoichthyine Tracheocolumid from the Nuwadi Ocean.

Like all Decaperfluoichthynes, the Purple Pillowhead is characterized by the presence of ten filtering organs distributed in the frontal section of the cranium, a distinctive feature once compared to the much more common distribution of the filters along the neck seen in other sister taxa.

Unlike other Ithmosians, Pillowheads are born with a twelve filter layout, losing two of them as they mature by fusing the dorsalmost and ventralmost pairs into one larger filter, an ontogenic state only very rarely seen in the superclass.

Purple Pillowheads live deeper than other Ithmosids, at depths ranging from 250-900 m, where they filter particulate traveling down in the ocean column.

The forward-pointing filters are optimal for low current environments as they are not dependent on artificially channelled ocean currents to deliver the food to the ithmos.

The Purple Pillowhead was first discovered by Union fisherman Lani Ka'ahanui in 2409, while she was fishing for Flappers using nets.

The specimen was housed in a warehouse in Jan for study but was destroyed during the Civil War in 2411.

It would take another 15 years for another specimen to be recovered, a time in which her claim of the animal's existence was largely considered to be a hoax by the wider scientific community due to a lack of evidence to back up the claim.

Lani Ka'ahanui died of a Grappleskin infection in 2419, her biggest discovery being regarded as fake.

When a new specimen was eventually recovered in 2426, it was named in her honour.

Due to the rarity of one travelling up in the water column, sightings of these animals remain rare to this day.

Join the Community:

discord.gg/Ss24Yme