← JournalMidnight Naturalist

Vent-Huddle Isopod

Isopoda fumarola

Midnight6 cm · Clustering · thermophilic

Field record

They pile three and four deep against the warm side of the smoker, close enough that the plume keeps a faint shimmer moving over the whole cluster. Pull one from the huddle and it turns straight back toward the heat before it even clears the current, as if the cold on this side of the vent were the only real predator down here.

Marginal note: “always found piled against the warm side”

Habitat

ZoneMidnight Zone

Depth range1,300–2,100 m

DiscoveryClusters near a hydrothermal vent's rust-glow. Linger near a smoker rather than swimming past.

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+10 Light Radius

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