Bloodstones

Bloodstones are a type of virid rockfish found in coastal waters throughout Helevos. Mature bloodstones sit in clusters on the sea bed and look very much like small rocks, though when cracked open, they have a vibrant red flesh inside which exudes a quantity of red liquid very much like mammal or human blood.

They are primarily filter feeders, consuming nutrients, zooids and organic matter from the water. Rather than excreting mineral debris, they use it to build their shell. Since they take minerals from their local environment, bloodstones of the same species can look entirely different in different areas. Unusual specimens have been found with shells made of sandstone, quartz and even harbour brick.

Early in their life they are carnivorous, spawned in huge shoals which consume the small offspring or larvae of any creatures nearby, including small predators or even their own kin. Once they became full and sated, they root their tail into a crack in the rock, where they grow into the mature form.

Though a virid creature, their flesh and fluid is similar in appearance to the red blood of humans and other mammals. This is an evolutionary adaptation, the pigment in their blood making them distasteful to predators. They are sometimes eaten by coast-dwellers, since their muscular tail core is mainly protein, but if the flesh is eaten in excess they cause liver toxicity and poisoning, similar to other virid flesh.

Among fishermen, pulling up a bloodstone along with a shoal of greenfish is considered a bad omen. There is some wisdom in this, since pulling up a bloodstone either means the nets having been scraping along the bottom and may become lost or damaged, or signals strong currents on the sea floor, often presaging a storm tide.