Cyclops Leaf Fish
Evolved from Gendia lastimosa, these small gendia’s hide among polyphs in zone 28, often forming large schools, due to their smaller size and skittish nature, they mostly eat polyphs, rarely eating other muscals.
G. herbistus are small and skittish, ranging between 2 – 3 centimetres in size, they live among all polyphs in zone 28, occasionally grazing on the polyphs they hide among, they often school around and hide in A. okeanus, but have been seen following and hanging around groups and mats of F. cenafolius, F. foliumegaeus, L. cytosol, and N. protos, they follow mobile organisms and polyphs to graze on them.
Due to their small size, they form extremely large schools, normally ranging from 90 – 120 members, but on rare occasions reaching up to 180 individuals in a school, because of their smaller size, they lay 1 – 3 highly developed eggs each, they lay their eggs on polyphs if they can, if they cant they lay them on the sea floor. if they lay their eggs near immobile organisms or polyphs, they normally stay near, giving eggs a higher chance of survival, but if they are following mobile organisms or groups of organisms they don’t stick around, meaning eggs are less likely to survive to adult hood.
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G. herbistus are various tones of green to help them blend in among the polyphs they hide among, but they can change their hue to blend in better with different organisms, areas, or polyphs. They often graze on the organism they are hanging around, whether it be a patch of okeanus, or a group of foliumegaeus, they will most likely be seen grazing on what is available, leaving small bites on polyphs or organisms they hide among.
Male and female herbistus both mostly have different hues of green covering most of their bodies, but males have a region of bright colours on them, ranging from the face to the tail. they are able to change hue from to food they eat, when they eat large amounts of certain organisms, the pigments "stain" their bodies, showing up in their flesh, and changing their body hue. When Herbistus populations live among immobile polyphs, individuals go down to the polyphs to hide and graze, with individuals that dont need to graze or cant find any spots to graze schooling above, the individuals that are schooling will dart to the polyphs if they spot danger, with individuals already grazing staying in the polyphs.
Their odd body shape evolved to appear grass or leaf like when hiding among okeanus, but it also aids in confusing predators and making them harder to eat, this does have a negative side effect in the form of poor agility and speed. They are preyed upon by G. gobinsus, G. lastimosa, S. filtafilta, S. nanus, S. tidalus and T. katharagnathus. G. herbistus consumes A. okeanus, F. cenafolius, F. foliumegaeus, F. foliumicroeus, H. arbolysis, H. jenpia, L. cytosol, N. protos, O. kerensis and L. byssumcoda.
