← JournalMidnight Naturalist

Deep Shale Crab

Lapisculus profundus

Midnight14 cm carapace · Armored · slow

Field record

Its shell has weathered to the same flat grey as the shale it sits on, cracked in the same pattern the rock cracks in, so that half the outcrops down here might be crab and I would never know until one of them moved. This one took four minutes to decide the drone wasn't a threat, and I have rarely felt so studied.

Marginal note: “half the rock down here might be crab”

Habitat

ZoneMidnight Zone

Depth range1,300–2,100 m

DiscoveryNo special condition — found simply by piloting close enough to identify it.

Catching it

A Midnight-tier catch needs at least a Braided Net— anything under that rating can never hold it, whatever the throw. Bought at the Quartermaster’s counter for 300 crystals. A held net inks this entry for good and pays its ledger bonus on the spot.

Ledger bonus on capture+12 Accel

Full capture mechanics — sighting vs. capture, the aim ring, why a net below a creature’s tier always bursts — in The Ledger.