Aberrant Fish - Tumblr Posts
Aberrant Fish
!! Hi there, if you are reading this, know that this post is currently going through a sort of overhaul and revisit as of September. With the release of the Iron Rig DLC, and me finally getting around to finishing it, several updates to the hyperlinks below are in the works to fix some outdated numbering and account for the MANY additional aberrations that the latest expansion has added to existing regions.
The first hint many an angler will get of the dark, insidious secrets these waters hold,
and yet, they are the first thing to be accepted as only another flavor of mundane.
The game text calls them grotesque. The fishmonger calls them corrupted. You get to call them a bonus. Rather than fear and revile them, tradesmen will pay a shiny extra penny to add them into their stock. They are gestured to and spoken of, but never truly elaborated on by the townsfolk. They have probably been here long before most of them, and so will be here long after they are gone. They were certainly here before you. Maybe you don’t need their answers, and yet if you are like me, you still witlessly question and keep dredging for more.
Like many things pulled from those cursed depths, they whisper flecks of madness from an impossible voice. What messages do they carry, and what forces do they play vessel to? Are they the lingering embers from a long-extinguished calamity, or are they harbingers of the next one to come?
I believe we have already seen signs of fire with our own eyes- impossible, great beasts that prowl the four (now five) coasts, the dying cult, gibbering fog…. That damned book. These tortured creatures are but another form of the same smoke.
To the question of where they came from, if your fisherman pokes around enough and braves the darkness, he may have already found a response in one of the many obelisks scattered around the map. Specifically, I refer to this.
This would suggest the aberrants themselves are what leaked in through the cracks that the largest of all monsters wants to rend apart? Not entirely, but in part. For the researcher at the Stellar Basin came to her own conclusion I want to factor in.
Her words give credence to the possibility that it is actually those greater beasts themselves at the heart of the corruption. I think she was half onto something, because what if these twisted forms, both large and small, were blooms along the same set of festering roots?
The more dark stones you disturb in the frenzy of your own madness, the more you learn about the age before your arrival, about the islands, and especially about their current guardians. The Mindsuckers- carrion puppet masters given a home, the Basin creature- a spore that miraculously survived its dive to the abyss, and the Serpent- lifeless stone made animate and malicious, all had their creation remembered in great detail by the obelisks. Some hints point that their emergence was rather recent, relative to even more powerful beings, such as the leviathan.
Maybe there are even more unseen horrors far below, blessedly out of our reach, for now. My view is that the malformed beasts are the aimless children of such unfathomable things waiting beyond the veil. With them came its influence, and its corruption, and from them it continues to spread to all life surrounding. The smaller rifts were always a transformative disease upon the harbor’s fish, but with the rise of the new monsters, the sickness runs farther and less avoidably than ever. Whether these aberrant spawn are a gift to the worthy, or another deceptive evil that leads to madness remains left to be seen.
I will be giving a spotlight to each of these fascinating specimens at the back of Dredge’s encyclopedia, including those found in the expansions, for further comment and appreciation. Updating the list below as we go along!
[#104-109]
[#110-115]
[#116-122]
[#123-129]
[#130-135]
[#136-141]
[#142-148]
[#115-120] [#149-154]
[#121-126] [#155-159]
[#127-132] [#160-164]
[#133-138] [update still WIP]
[#139-144] [update still WIP]
[#145-150] [update still WIP]
[#151-156] [update still WIP]
[#157-162] [update still WIP]
[#163-168] [update still WIP]
[#169-174] [update still WIP]
[Bonus I. Night Angler]
[Bonus II. Serpent]
[Bonus III. Basin Creature]
[Bonus IV. Mindsuckers]
[Bonus V. Unseeing Mother]
[Bonus VI. “Narwhal”]
Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 1
Grotesque Mackerel
Encyclopedia #104
Aberrant form of Blue Mackerel
Description:
Corrupted scales and bulbous eyes - like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Comment: Compared to what’s to come, an incredibly tame introduction into the dark underbelly of the local ecosystem. Along with the other mutant forms of blue mackerel, squid, and cod, this is often one of (if not the) very first aberrants that the player will stumble upon while getting their bearings in the starting region. Only mildly deformed, this fish is one of the lucky. Also, it’s the least valuable aberrant available, but at bare minimum, it’s still an improvement upon the least valuable fish in the game.
How to catch: Commonly spawn in the coastal waters along The Marrows during the day. Can be trawl-netted. Atrophy may take a few tries since this is one of three possible variations of the normal fish.
Lumpy Mackerel
Encyclopedia #105
Aberrant form of Blue Mackerel
Description:
A writhing mass of lumps, twisting and pulling their way under the scales of their vessel. How long can it have lived like this?
Comment: My first aberrant catch that I felt a twinge of real pity for, and the first one that made me feel appalled concern for those characters who could be implied to willingly feast upon such things. Its riddled body teems with cancerous mass, or, as the undulating suggests, something much more vivacious and sinister…
How to catch: Same as above.
Many-Eyed Mackerel
Encyclopedia #106
Aberrant form of Blue Mackerel
Description:
Gill plates dotted with eyeballs. Superfluous but scanning, frantically. All eyes see right through you.
Comment: This one really makes one wish fish had eyelids of their own. If it could comprehend its situation, I wonder if this specimen would wish for the same thing. What cruelty to be blessed with this paranoid, all angled gaze, only to still end up in the grasp of a superior predator. The most valuable malformation of the least valuable fish in the game.
How to catch: Same as above.
All-Seeing Cod
Encyclopedia #107
Aberrant form of Cod
Description:
Staring outwards, unblinking. Eyes borrowed from a larger being but not the mind to process what it sees.
Comment: Was that a pun…? Anyway, there’s something strangely appealing about the colors of this one to me. Stare long enough into the eyes of cod, and I guess they will gaze back. I hope those massive peepers don’t go to waste at the fish market- the hands of an experienced chef should be delighted, if anything, to work with such a nutritious addition.
How to catch: A coastal regular around The Marrows during the day. Can be caught in trawl nets.
Fanged Cod
Encyclopedia #108
Aberrant form of Cod
Description:
Deviantly sharp teeth, with chunks of smaller fish lodged between. A hunger in its eyes
Comment: For a mutated wretch of the deep, this biter doesn’t seem so intimidating until you reflect for a moment on the actual size of an average codfish. The largest individuals you snag of this variant can be as long as nearly 4 feet. I begin to hope that those living in the Marrows keep their children far from the water’s edge.
How to catch: second verse, same as the first.
Three-Headed Cod
Encyclopedia #109
Aberrant form of Cod
Description:
Three heads writhe and struggle in unison. Three mouths hang agape, then close shut together. Three lives lived as one. One fate bound to many.
Comment: More meat for the same amount of cargo space? Not much to complain about when dragging one of these up from their home. Probably by coincidence, irrelevantly, but still humorously, “3-headed cod” also happens to be the name of a real life beer, only available annually.
How to catch: Third verse, same as the first.
Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 2
Brood Squid
Encyclopedia #110
Aberrant form of Arrow Squid
Description:
Tentacles sprout from a glowing core inside a gelatinous sac. Other cores lay dormant alongside
Comment: The first aberrant I caught where the original being, if it ever truly lived, appeared lost entirely to the corruption. It has been hollowed out and made the bloated womb for a nameless invader. It invokes two visceral images in my mind’s eye. The first being an infected cell, swelling with viral load until it is bursted, spilling out with new capsules of infection waiting to start the cycle anew. The other is of those real squids in the world which brood their own eggs to hatching. They too, sacrifice the last of themselves entirely to bring their spawn into a hungry world.
How to catch: Another coastal spawner in The Marrows region, albeit only appearing after sunset. Can be gathered in trawl nets.
Snag Squid
Encyclopedia #111
Aberrant form of Arrow Squid
Description:
Tasting tongues writhe wildly around sets of yellowed, crooked teeth. The top row are flattened like human molars.
Comment: The first aberrant that made me recoil back in my chair with a grimaced “Euuh” sound when I saw it appear on my screen. To think of what caution such a thing must be handled with, lest the role of butcher’s hand and sustenance become reversed. The artwork makes horrible suggestion of one animal in a slow transformation to become many. This layered hunger promises terrible growth and sprawling if it is allowed to consume.
How to catch: Ditto
Barbed Eel
Encyclopedia #112
Aberrant form of Grey Eel
Description:
A spine broken with sharp angles and crooked curves. A row of teeth bent on revenge.
Comment: Fortunately for I, there exists frilled sharks with a more unnerving presence than this gnarled creature. It is much like the Marrows themselves, crooked and strange, but conquered easily. Hunger on, scoliotic elver, but you won’t be the one who feasts before the sun rises.
How to catch: This wretch and its kin will require an upgrade from the basic rod to bag. Fish during the day, around the shallow waters about The Marrows. I always found them mostly around the rocks. Can be trawl-netted with the appropriate equipment.
Host Eel
Encyclopedia #113
Aberrant form of Grey Eel
Description:
Numerous glowing shapes flicker and squirm behind a distended ribcage. The rest of the fish is withered and drained.
Comment: Could it be… another strain of what plagues the brood squid? Unlikely, but to the animal, the difference won’t matter- its fate mirrors the other all the same.
How to catch: ^Ditto
Cyclopean Flounder
Encyclopedia #114
Aberrant form of Gulf Flounder
Description:
A sprawling, jellied mass spills from a single eye socket. What appears to be a dark pupil is in fact the center of an egg.
Comment: Oh…. It’s a yolk. That’s the nucleus. Another life, traded for the potential of a new one. Neither encyclopedia nor the artwork help me address the question of whether or not this flounder carries a fertilized ovum, and frankly, I do not know which answer would unsettle me more. Mercifully, ironically, this change has blinded it.
How to catch: Active during the day, and dwells only in the shallow water of The Marrows. Can be trawl netted.
Riddled Flounder
Encyclopedia #115
Aberrant form of Gulf Flounder
Description:
Baggy skin perforated with countless cavities. A singular, shapeless mass spreads underneath.
Comment: Ah, I must wonder at this piece if the devs looked to the Surinam toad, and if they found such inspiration there that they created this. The semblance to one of the real world’s beautiful horrors is unmistakable.
If this were the intention, then the riddled flounder would be all the more foreboding a sight. While the flounder’s skin only shelters a single resident, the flat Surinam’s cavities are each protecting a tadpole. Something else that interests me about the grotesque flounder is that, like the other variant, this one has been rendered sightless. In place of its eyes are protruding siphons of a sort. Their function- unknown.
How to catch: ^Ditto
Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 3
Tusked Grouper
Encyclopedia #116
Aberrant form of black grouper
Description:
Pig-like tusks protrude from the mouth of this ravenous brute. With no eyes to speak of, it attacks indiscriminately.
Comment: Is it my leaping to association, or does there seem to be a peculiarly common theme of the Marrows aberrations and the loss (or hypertrophy) of their eyes?
How to catch: Being night-swimmers, there lies a small, but manageable risk in fishing for grouper in The Marrows. They dwell in the shallows, and will take to rod and net alike.
Voltaic Grouper
Encyclopedia #117
Aberrant form of black grouper
Description:
An unknown green energy arcs and crackles over this fish's scales. It thrashes ceaselessly, even hours after being pulled from the water.
Comment: Now THIS is an interesting fish, both in look and in the possibilities. To butcher this one feels like a waste. I would adore to explore captive sea lanterns and dark apparatus powered by these energies.
How to catch: ^^^
Shard Ray
Encyclopedia #118
Aberrant form of stingray
Description:
The stone skin of this ray is moulded around a black crystal shard. The rock fragments articulate and grind together.
Comment: Notably the first, although far from the last case where we will witness the transmutation from biology to something that should, by all logic, be inorganic and still. Keep this specimen in the when we move onto the Gale Cliffs section of the encyclopedia. If there was any fortune for the ray in this turn of events, it would be in the fact that its kind were already bottom-dwellers. Most curious here is the semblance between those black crystals and the igneous basalt pillars that are so ever-present across the sea.
How to catch: Marrow stingrays are available to cast for at any time of day or night. True to nature, they prefer the shallow ends. Be on the lookout for this oddity in the early game, as they can fetch a decent sum going towards ship upgrades.
Sallow Sailfish
Encyclopedia #119
Aberrant form of sailfish
Description:
A sickly, pallid color coats the scales of this normally sleek and shiny fish. Clouded eyes belie the disease spreading underneath.
Comment: "Sallow" describes the yellowed complexion of a very unwell person, most literally in one showing the telltale signs of jaundice. My nostrils themselves cringe to brainstorm of the malodor that accompanies this snag.
How to catch: Like all sailfish, they feed diurnally in the deeper, oceanic biome around The Marrows. A suitable rod or trawl net will be needed to start pursuing this awful sight.
Hooked Sailfish
Encyclopedia #120
Aberrant form of sailfish
Description:
Spindles of bone protrude from discolored muscle. A hooked bill curves inward - a lure for something greater.
Comment: With a description like that, it makes the fact that this fish cannot actually be used as some manner of bait or ultimate hook to use against a true monster sound like a missed opportunity. Half of me wants to mock it for its ridiculous little shrunken expression, but my other half can't help but compliment the concept and chosen colors of its body.
How to catch: ^^^
Bloodskin Shark
Encyclopedia #121
Aberrant form of Bronze Whaler
Description:
Tendons and sinews stretch over the fins of this bloodied predator. Powerful jaws are clad in exposed muscle.
Comment: Reminder that another term for this individual when it was healthy was the copper shark. Poetically, I can vividly imagine the taste and smell of copper reeking from this savage demon. With no regret I can say I actually prefer this specimen over the more popular reef shark variant. A sucker for crimson and reds, I'll stay predictable to the end.
How to catch: Only bother once you have access to equipment that can handle casting after oceanic dwellers. Searching outward from the Marrows coastlines should find a harvesting spot of shark in no time. These may be hauled or trawled under the daytime sun.
Cleft Mouth Shark
Encyclopedia #122
Aberrant form of Blacktip reef shark
Description:
A large body bisected by an enormous, grinning maw. Teeth stretch down forever into the blackness of its large gullet.
Comment: The last, and maybe most remembered of The Marrow's warped fish.
Seriously, I stumbled into a bounty of fanart specifically about this jacked up, faceless shark. I belove it the same. Already we have seen two frequented themes in the aberrant line- beings transformed wholly for the purpose of creating and carrying eldritch life, and as so iconized by the above fella, those who instead now only live to consume other life. Early sailors keep their fingers crossed for one of these valuable brutes.
How to catch: Early investment into researching heavier fishing equipment and careful timing will be the friend of those hunting after this abomination. Not for the faint among those just starting out, as black tip reef sharks only appear at night in oceanic water. This means being farther away from the starting port and fishing in the thick of the fog. Keep wary that you don't pull up your catch only to lose it overboard in a collision with a tricky rock, or an assault from the night angler. Can be trawl netted.
Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 4
When whispers and fleeting tastes weren’t enough, the flotsam took up their metal and their lies, and they lanced the darkest primordial core.
From it spilled our past’s phantoms to rise- no longer in eons’ slumber, glimpsing the light once more. ₊˚.༄
Plated Osteostracan ༄.°
Encyclopedia #123
Aberrant form of Osteostracan
Description:
A shell of bone, pierced by spurs of something stronger. A horned mitre shielding eyeless sockets.
Comment: The true osteostracans (the powers below only know how much I have struggled to spell that word right with every use) would, among many of the ooze’s surprises, already have been a discovery defying of all reason. Here from the drill’s disturbance is an individual not only of a kind thought to have vanished from our world some hundreds of millions of years ago, but changed and reshapen anew where evolution did not touch its brethren. On a sidenote, a mitre is the actual name of the headwear iconically worn by the upper clergy of the Catholic hierarchy, most famously associated with the pope. Could this creature’s helm also be a symbol of importance? Regarding the mystery of the shell’s makeup, I personally speculate it to be a form of enamel. It would certainly be stronger than mere bone, and suit some of the Deep’s penchant for the sardonic: a jawless fish, gilded in teeth.
How to catch: Though they rose from the darkest, inky depths below the Marrows, the osteostraci prefer to gather in the shallows beneath pollutants’ gleam. The unique “habitat” they spawn from however, requires the aid of specialized equipment to harvest these fish.
Axial Matron ༄.°
Encyclopedia #124
Aberrant form of tullimonstrum
Description:
Mouths within mouths. Chambers within chambers. The matron's grip is terminal.
Comment: In a spectacular twist, the bastardization of the living fossil has actually… produced a creature much less monstrous, if only in appearance. The retraction of stalk eyes and the repurposed proboscis-like organ of the corrupted specimen has brought its visage closer to that of a fish than the enigmatic, impossible to class Tully Monster.
How to catch: This will be the last I repeat of what I already gestured to before. Learn quickly the recurrent pattern of the sludge’s offerings, no regular rod or reel will be able to drag ANY of these ancient wretches out of their favored home- of course being the newly spotted oil slicks released by the seabed’s running wound. A lucid mind, armed with steady hand and advanced tools, is best to send to those unsightly lesions. Take your pick of the Marrow’s coastal scabs, and then you may try your luck with old Tully.
Anvilfish ༄.°
Encyclopedia #125
Aberrant form of paddlefish
Description:
A head hammered flat against the alluvium of the world. Every shaper needs a surface.
Comment: Definition of alluvium: a deposit of clay, silt, sand, and gravel left by flowing streams in a river valley or delta, typically producing fertile soil. Behold here as well the rarity of a rarity. There isn’t much to this victim’s purpose easily concluded. What I have noticed, though, is that this fish and the next proceeding entry compliment each other and the nature of the Iron Rig itself- an extraction and transformation of the deep’s bed, bringing out the evolution of our tools.
How to catch: With infused reel aboard, feel around for the Marrow’s costal waters, where and while the oil still flows.
Ivory Impaler ༄.°
Encyclopedia #126
Aberrant form of swordfish
Description:
Strips of flensed flesh course around a spike of impossible metal. Underneath roped tendons, it bears a name unremembered.
Comment: Spear-fisherman beware… the quarry that finally stands (really swims) on an even playing field. The savage beauty of this one appeals to me greatly, the grisly paleness of its flesh, rended asunder. The permanent grin beneath so evil a gaze. A predator that no longer lunges for the meal, simply for the satiation of even more bloodletting.
How to catch: Strangely, though neither returned fossils nor commonly seen in the Marrows before, the seismic anomaly has brought in the first sightings of swordfish gathering in the region, specifically in the same stained waters as other new findings. To begin catching them, one will need oceanic suitable fishing equipment also fitted with improved modifications.
Cerebral Crab
Encyclopedia #127
Aberrant form of common crab
Description:
A turquoise mass swells from within this small crab. The growth pulses, quickening in the light of the sun.
Comment: Would it be to awry of me to say that there's something almost... cute about the look of this scuttler? I find it difficult to not think there would be strange beauty in the sight of the island sands at night, pulsing and peppered with a gathering of these crabs' light, like jewels beneath the foam. I can at least be sure that their hue is enamoring once smeared across the hull of my boat. This is one of two mutants you must bring to the painter in Little Marrow to unlock the sharp mint pigments to customize with.
How to catch: As the name would suggest, this animal can only be harvested with patience and the use of a crab pot. Aim for a depth below 25 meters, such as close to, or even within the Greater Marrow harbor.
Malignant Pincer
Encyclopedia #128
Aberrant form of fiddler crab
Description:
Teal tumours secrete a slimy substance over cracks and joints. Its massive claw shudders as it fights for control.
Comment: Now THIS victim's predicament actually lends some fascinating implications about what ails the previous. These pustules look so alike to the same as the common crab's infection in both shape and color that I will go on a limb and decide that the same entity finds a host in either species. The "cerebral" part of the former's name indicates that this mass is in fact a brain of its own, with its own imperatives and will that overrides the poor vessel's. Because the infection has decided to root within the fiddler crab's claw, rather than its head, the animal's original brain has remained intact, despite everything. The body survives to stage a losing battle between nature and another's unknowable plan.
How to catch: They generally share roaming space with the common crabs of The Marrows, albeit preferring slightly shallower water, under a mere 10 meters to be exact. Due to their size, the basic crab pot can only hold one of them at a time, so, barring a speedrun to acquire the maw of the Deep, check the traps frequently if you are looking to snag one of these in the early game. I never found error in placing the pots right next to the Marrow docks for convenience. Bring one of these to the painter along with the cerebral crab to unlock the sharp mint paint for your ship.
Inverted Husk༄.°
Encyclopedia #129
Aberrant form of sea cucumber
Description:
Flesh, prolapsed and shed to the seafloor. A moult discarded, ready to envelop another.
Comment: Most horrid thing among the Iron Rig additions I have examined so far. Finally, the long missed taste again of utter revulsion and bewilderment that this grand sea had inspired in me from the beginning. With new novelties will come even more unsettling revelations.
How to catch: Unlike the other slick-swimming things we have encountered, this aberration requires no fancy or new tools at all to find. Any crab pot will do, placed directly into the tar-blackness at a depth between 25 meters and the surface. Depths from 10-25 meters are advised to prevent the space-demanding fiddler crab from turning up in the traps instead.
Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 5
Gnashing Perch
Encyclopedia #130
Aberrant form of oceanic perch
Description:
Eyeless and mindless. Driven only by the desire to consume. A purpose satiated many times over.
Comment: A rose by another name, gone sour, but bearing thorns all the same. Like those above, and like those below- once dangling from the hook they become just another example of reckless hunger’s final destination… straight into the jaws of a greater monstrosity.
How to catch: Despite oceanic sitting in the sweeter name, the Gale’s rosefish prefer to linger in coastal depths from dawn to dusk. Even the most basic of a rod, or net, can outmatch the gnasher.
Flayed mackerel
Encyclopedia # 131
Aberrant form of tiger mackerel
Description:
Rended flesh with muscle and bone exposed. This gory mess of a fish can't have lived like this for long.
Comment: It’s unclear what sort of changes the rift’s influence has inflicted this poor grey. Either we are witnessing a body being unmade by malevolence, or, perhaps its wounds are completely natural, while its continued survival is its truely twisted curse.
How to catch: Tiger mackerel’s habit is none much different from oceanic perch around the cliffs. Haul or trawl them in daylight at coastal depth.
Bearded mackerel
Encyclopedia #132
Aberrant form of tiger mackerel
Description:
The wispy tendrils sprouting from its mouth and flanks continue to writhe long after the fish has stopped flailing.
Comment: At last! It took us long enough to run aground something like this- bountiful barbels appearing in true lovecraftian fashion. Like before, this victim also sparks a silent question about its affliction. While the new additions could possibly be a parasitic drag, it’s potentially more likely they too extend the fish’s survival, serving as excellent distractions to less intelligent predators.
How to catch: ^^^
Scouring Bass
Encyclopedia #133
Aberrant form of black sea bass
Description:
Shapes swirl inside bulging, clouded eyes. Blinded by the light of the surface, but perfectly suited to searching the depths.
Comment: That’s a pity. He won’t be needing them where he’s going.
How to catch: In similar fashion to arrow squid, the black bass are night feeders. Prowl the coastal waters of Gale Cliffs to find one of these on your hook or in your net.
Gelatinous Stonefish
Encyclopedia #134
Aberrant form of stonefish
Description:
Flesh and scales intent on shuffling away from a creature struggling to maintain its mortal form.
Comment: Oh dear, the poor thing was given the blobfish treatment, even though it’s merely a reef dweller. Quite a cruel twist of irony for something that is called stonefish.
How to catch: Haul or trawl by daylight. They live in shallow water by the cliffs.
Enthralled Stonefish
Encyclopedia #135
Aberrant form of stonefish
Description:
A hollowed husk, hosting a hostile dweller. The eyes inside begin their search for a safer vessel.
Comment: I hate this. I love this. A deliciously horrible implication. To think the fisherman actually allows these things into the cargo hold and can still sleep at night…
How to catch: ^^^
Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 7
A door opened, the wound left growing.
Along grotesque procession, the ichor’s flowing.
It seeps through rock to blacken the blue,
Molds flesh like clay, turns nightmares true.
It creeps in to stay, feeling, growing,
And bringing its tarnish up to you. ₊˚.༄
Clutching Nautilus ˚.༄
Encyclopedia #142
Aberrant form of nautilus
Description:
The hand of some forgotten sailor, taken refuge from an ancient storm. Today, at last, it comes ashore.
Comment: In this one image alone I find myself in desperate need to make a vital note for refernce- do not. DO. NOT. Perish at sea in the territory surrounding the Marrows. To not lose oneself to the depths is, yes, a sound goal for any who lend their soul from the safety of land and into the trust of crew and craft, but I’m speaking of a danger worse than drowning. Perhaps I am speaking of a threat more dreadful than death itself, still watching the ribbon light of the worlds splintering apart the dark. The Deep isn’t so wasteful of its catches as man. Once it clutches a gift from above, it only throws it back for a cost no sane mind could bear to pay. Even after all this time, are my hands forever to be ones that only take… because I fear the bite of what wants to be fed?
How to catch: Tread the Gales, where the water shimmers black, and welcome this oceanic mistake’s homecoming with the powers of your infused winch. While the advanced hoist can accomplish the same thing, I do note that the winch has a 10% faster fishing speed and can be obtained for a lower investment cost.
Vagrant Sollasina ˚.༄
Encyclopedia #143
Aberrant form of sollasina
Description:
Five sensing spears quiver and guide. Two stalks erupt from the shell, with eyes to see the unseen.
Comment: I see strange directions for this ancient’s evolution to choose. It is impossible to know what the creature has been shaped to detect, whether it is desperate to find, or avoid what it senses. A fun side fact more about its untainted relatives is that there was once found a fossil of this genus in England, given the actual species name “Sollasina Cthulhu”.
How to catch: This is another dweller of polluted patches. Switch to an advanced rod designed for shallow casting.
Bifurcated Gar ˚.༄
Encyclopedia #144
Aberrant form of abyssal gar
Description:
A once strong body now divided, clinging to life through coiled channels of blood and bile.
Comment: A living testament to how the strength of the whole is only meaningfully counted by the strength of its bindings. A poetic art piece from the Deep, this metaphor for our dance- a glossy sludge making traffic between two halves of what once touched.
How to catch: You will not only need the aid of equipment specialized for casting through the corrupt oil, but also with the length to reach the abyssal depths. As such, the infused hoist is the only candidate for the job.
Slivering Lancetfish ˚.༄
Enclyclopedia #145
Aberrant form of lancetfish
Description:
An outward reflection, turning, coiling inward. The thrust of introspection, lost to self-obsession.
Comment: And so the spiral, well… spirals. There’s nothing to be said to add upon this concept, but it’s one of my favorite new discoveries since the rig was revealed. It checked off for both fantastic and dreadful even at first glance.
How to catch: While lancetfish are an elusive deep sea predator, unusual seismic disturbance has brought them to the cliffs with the other out of place fish. Any advanced rod for coastal catching will do.
Splintered Crab
Encyclopedia #146
Aberrant form of rock crab
Description:
Amber glue holds shattered fragments. A deep dweller cracked from the pressure.
Comment: Another turn, another puzzle to this creature’s characterization as literal or figurative. Already this transformation from shell to stone is strange enough, but the crab’s insides of sap reveal a whole other layer of impossible anatomy. For what it could be, the market has definitely lowballed the fisherman on what payment they offer for even one of these. Still, at least one specimen must be brought to the Painter at Little Marrow, going toward the ability to use Maple Orange pigment for your vessel customizations.
How to catch: Rock Crabs will readily be taken up by crab pots in the Gale Cliffs region, lurking depths shallower than 25 meters.
Cortex Decorator
Encyclopedia #147
Aberrant form of decorator crab
Description:
Folds of orange tissue tower from its head. Scything limbs administer the structure.
Comment: A delightfully skin-crawling addition to the day’s catch. Taken by the encyclopedia’s word, the skittering one has sculpted the very mound protruding from its own carapace. To what ends, it can’t be known. Either way, one of these is the other half of the requirements for Maple Orange boat paint.
How to catch: Before leaving the Cliffs, it is well worth investing into obtaining a Mouth of the Deep crab pot, which will be invaluable to helping catch larger mutagenic crustaceans such as these. The item goes a long way to allowing the player to keep investing research parts into engines, rods, and nets at this stage, rather than the expensive crab pot upgrades that otherwise would be needed for effective harvest of this size of crab and up. Shares a region with the rock crabs and their own aberrant, albeit preferring much shallower water. Keep your crab pots to 5 meters and below in the Gale’s bay.
Cystic Trilobite ˚.༄
Encyclopedia #148
Aberrant form of trilobite
Description:
An ancient infection, carried through time. Impatient in dormancy, it rises from the rocks.
Comment: One of the most eerie things the first beings who study the Deep and its influence is to realize, we are the last beings to have caught its attention. The forces beneath these waves have been awake longer than we can fathom.
How to catch: Any functioning crab pot, placed between 0-50 meters of depth by the cliffs, always in the oil slick, will have a chance at yielding one of these. For best chances, stick to a depth of 25 to 50 meters, to avoid wasting trap slots on the native crabs.
Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 8
Parhelion jellyfish
Encyclopedia #149
Aberrant form of aurora jellyfish
Description:
Two spires of light shine from within its hood. Stinging spiked tentacles trail below.
Comment: “Parhelion”, also referred to as a sun dog- a bright spot in the sky appearing on either side of the sun, formed by refraction of sunlight through ice crystals high in the earth's atmosphere. Photo example of what this kind of glare appears like in life. A rare phenomenon.
It is worth curious reflection on whether there is a relation at all between these animals and the hostile "jelly bombs" that pepper the nighttime stellar basin like sea mines.
How to catch: The quickest way to end up with one of these is to have great luck while completing the main story objectives for the region. Otherwise, this one can be a challenge in patience to catch. Aurora jellyfish can only be caught within trawl nets, when they emerge at night in the Stellar Basin's costal range.
Cursed Fangtooth
Encyclopedia #150
Aberrant form of fangtooth
Description:
A small and feeble mind, easily conquered. Now, brought screaming from the depths, it lies powerless.
Comment: On the bright side, real fangtooths… fangteeth?… these fish are calmingly tiny. On the dark side, they look not much less intimidating.
How to catch: Living at greater depths than most sealife, these critters will require special equipment to reach down into the abyssal zone. Rod for them day and night, if you can find a shoal around the Basin.
Voideye
Encyclopedia #151
Aberrant form of barreleye
Description:
Inside its eye, a perpetual pattern repeats. Red cyclones meld through shimmering green swirls. The abyss burns through you.
Comment: Dare say, an eye constructed with the most peculiar sense of irony. Formed not to look, but to show. It beckons for your gaze, unable to pull away.
How to catch: Identical method as the above fish.
Radiant Squid
Encyclopedia #152
Aberrant form of firefly squid
Description:
A beacon from the depths below. A glimpse of a new sky.
Comment: Born from that which loathes the light, it seems to almost rebel against the Deep’s law. Could it be a child of the stars, instead? Perhaps not. In either sense, its light is not our light, and its world is not our own. Pray that its blinding skin will be the only glimpse gained into these far places.
How to catch: Firefly squid can likened to the arrow squids in The Marrows- coastal depth, nocturnal, and vulnerable to trawl and rod. Generally they tend to be found among the shallow reefs that encompass the heart of the Basin.
Blood Snapper
Encyclopedia #153
Aberrant form of red snapper
Description:
Blood leaks endlessly from under its scales, pooling beneath it no matter where it's placed.
Comment: This masterpiece is a sanguine gem among stones. Of all the harvestable fauna within the sea, you, blood snapper, you are among my most beloved.
How to catch: Snap up one of the reds about anywhere in the coastal waters of the Stellar Basin. They are an easy tug and an even easier find in your net.
Latching Snapper
Encyclopedia #154
Aberrant form of red Snapper
Description:
Swollen flesh folds back over its eyes. Cracked lips bleed through mounted scar tissue.
Comment: PUT THAT THING BACK WHERE IT CAME FROM OR SO HELP ME.
You are not beautiful like your complementing variant. You are abhorred and detested. All about you only reveals the profanity of your existence and I know not whether to toss you back to the waves or do them the kindness of your removal.
That all said, latching snapper, it is admittedly impressive that you managed to land a role in SpongeBob.
How to catch: ^^^
Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 9
Ruptured Vessel
Encyclopedia #155
Aberrant form of giant amphipod
Description:
Willing host, or sacrificial receptacle?
Comment: I'm going to go with the latter; although, the bigger question may be to what this creature served to hatch. Whatever the answer, it apparently fetches a nice price to the traveling merchant, relative to cargo space it takes.
How to catch: This crustacean is one of a couple of trickier finds in the Stellar Basin. Deeper than deep, they are only able to be angled up from the hadal zone. Pursuing amphipods generally will require an advanced upgrade along to the abyssal-suited rod line, as well as story progression through the way of operating the generator at the abandoned research outpost. Be wary of those limited windows of safety its pulse will provide. Thankfully, amphipod presence is not determined by night or day.
Perished Loosejaw
Encyclopedia #121
Aberrant form of Loosejaw
Description:
A few ragged scraps of skin hang like cobwebs from its fins. Its exposed muscles are riddled with small white worms.
Comment: Why the fish markets will accept one of these at the price they do is beyond the scope of my own comprehension. A shudder rolls through my body to consider the fishmonger scraping this morsel’s bones for the tainted scraps he seeks.
How to catch: Haul up from the inky depths of the abyssal zone. Circling the Stellar basin should reveal the glowing “stoplights” of their shoals before long.
Calcified Snailfish
Encyclopedia #157
Aberrant form of Snailfish
Description:
Waiting in dormancy for its moment to arrive.
Comment: Even at the bottom of the world, this vessel found no respite from the hook to hide its transformation from the light. Appearing as a fossil, but functioning as a calcium chrysalis. Few could truly appreciate the metamorphosis taking place within- just as the caterpillar that is unmade and rebuilt for a new purpose, its fate belongs to a new cycle.
How to catch: Sailfish are a bottommost inhabitant of the hadal zone, only hooked from the treacherous core of the Stellar basin. Narrative progression is the pathway to accessing these few harvesting spots. Ensure it is safe to do so before fishing for this.
Seizing Snailfish
Encyclopedia #158
Aberrant form of snailfish
Description:
Fingers of flesh hold teeth on their tips, a grasping grip that feels through the dark depths.
Comment: It may be a further leap of logic to guess that this is the matured form where the previous aberration is the pupa, but it is a tempting consideration. At least, it is a superior form to the merchant’s appraisal.
How to catch: ^^^
Consumed Grouper
Encyclopedia #159
Aberrant form of coral grouper
Description:
Once dazzling skin now bleached and eroded. It barely resists, relieved at a final end.
Comment: Another reminder that the Deep’s influence is partial and without compassion. It knows nothing of worthiness, and less of mercy. There are simply those it gifts, and from those it takes. Without rhyme. Without reason.
How to catch: Haul by sunlight, only in the shallow waters about the Basin’s reefs.
Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 10
Medusa Octopus
Encyclopedia #160
Aberrant form of glowing octopus
Description:
Eight snapping mouths crawl over each other at the behest of a silent master.
Comment: Eight times the mouths for eight times the menace. Notably, it has also forsaken the bioluminescence of its natural kin, suggesting alterations to living more as an active hunter in the night, rather than potential prey.
How to catch: A shallow swimmer within the Basin's coral reefs. Only comes out after sundown, but can be passively caught with crab pots (10 meters of above) in addition to the reel. The telltale blue glow of the regular octopi make their harvesting spots easily visible in the darkness.
Bursting Anglerfish
Encyclopedia #161
Aberrant form of anglerfish
Description:
The deep faces its own consequences of creation. In the darkness, brutality becomes the ultimate filter.
Comment: It is aptly put by the first source. Even moreso, there is an additional familiarity that is all too tantalizing to see in this design.
How to catch: Available through day and night, lurks the abyssal depths around the Basin.
Savage Baracuda
Encyclopedia #162
Aberrant form of baracuda
Description:
It thrashes about ruinously, jaws snapping and tearing its own flesh apart. A body sundered by ravenous hatred.
Comment: It can’t go unsaid that source did a strangely phenomenal job on the art delivery with this. The description as well, since it invokes to me another disfiguring madness I’ve seen before.
How to catch: A Day-swimmer found in shallow shoals in the Stellar Basin.
Concertina Baracuda
Encyclopedia #163
Aberrant form of baracuda
Description:
Its body extends, then collapses together with each gasping breath. Nature dissected into mechanical motion.
Comment: Your childhood accordion fish paper crafts, brought through the stark filter that is reality.
How to catch: ^^^
Gazing Shark
Encyclopedia #164
Aberrant form of hammerhead
Description:
Huge bulbous eyes move about on large fleshy stalks, siphoning energy from its body. Its search is not over.
Comment: Disfigurement and intrigue aside, what makes this mutation particularly notable is its bounty- starting at base of $425 per head. Prior to the discovery of The Pale Reach, this was actually the most valuable individual aberrant available in the sea. While later outshone by expanded entries in the encyclopedia, it is still not a wretch to be completely overlooked by any means.
How to catch: Giving one of the biggest vanilla bangs for a buck, a couple of these could go a decent length towards your next ship renovation. As with other large sharks, hammerhead spawns are few and far between at oceanic depths. This species called the Stellar Basin its home. While it will be available night and day, it may be worth risking a trip or two into the fog after this beaut, for the slightly raised chance of an aberrant appearance. As with any abominable fish, bait and the fishing tools from the deep can only help in your search. Before anything else, a sturdy and spacious hull must be considered before seeking out the beasts, keeping in mind their 9 Slots of cargo requirements.
Every Dredge Aberration (2023), Part 10
Entwined Mullet
Encyclopedia #133
Aberrant form of grey mullet
Description:
Twisting, twitching tendrils sprout from the gill plates of this little fish. They heave in unison, moving the fish against its will.
Comment: Picture with me the feeling of wading in a marshland and having this animal brushing against your leg. Now shudder.
How to catch: A visit to the Twisted Strand’s coastal shoals should find a mullet on your hook or in your trawl in no time.
Gleaming Mullet
Encyclopedia #134
Aberrant form of grey mullet
Description:
Scales swollen into large, clustered pustules. A golden liquid shimmers from within.
Comment: Picture with me the feeling of a small water balloon between one’s pinched fingers. Think of the building tension that commands you to grip tighter, forcing, squeezing until a satisfying-
How to catch:^^^
Blistered Tarpon
Encyclopedia #135
Aberrant form of tarpon
Description:
Scales given way to bubbling flesh. A surface dweller singled out and cleansed by the sun.
Comment: A most inconvienient bastardization to an innocent shallows inhabitant. Pushed by nature to cling to the light, and punished by aberration calling it for the Deep.
How to catch: Available by day along the shallow waters in the Twisted Strand. Can be netted.
Vortex Interloper
Encyclopedia #136
Aberrant form of sergeant fish
Description:
A slow swirl twists its body, stretching it towards an unseen dimension.
Comment: Having not merely been touched by the fathomless realm, but even bearing a small rift of its own. We’re getting closer now, closer than we have before to the Deep’s most troubling implication.
How to catch: Obtainable only by net or rods equipped to handle the silted mangrove water throughout the Twisted Strand.
Clawfin Gar
Encyclopedia #137
Aberrant form of gar
Description:
Crooked talons hang from its fins. Periodically they shudder and come together, grasping like a hand.
Comment: The direction and position of these new graspers imply clutching in the opposite direction of how this fish swims. It’s not only meant to hold, but to drag something along with it.
How to catch: Haul or trawl up from the brackish mangroves during the day.
Grinning Gar
Encyclopedia #138
Aberrant form of gar
Description:
Muscular gums grow and force cracking teeth against each other. Softer flesh tears from the strain.
Comment: I hate this animal. In the worst way, and in the best way, or actually, just the worst way, the longer I stare at those teeth. The sooner it is dismissed from my sight, the better.
How to catch: ^^^
Every Dredge Aberration (2023), Part 11
Twinned Eels
Encyclopedia #139
Aberrant form of longfin eel
Description:
Endlessly pulling away, but torn apart they would surely perish. Two spiteful siblings splitting at the seams.
Comment: A bond stronger than will alone, and yet so short lived. Another creation of the Deep unfit for life in the old world. One way or another, their wish will be realized soon. I wonder if it was intentional for how easily we could compare this visual to the a most famous relic from the Aztec civilization, the double headed serpent.
How to catch: The elusive longfin eel feeds at night, gathered in the thick of mangrove water.
Nightwing Catfish
Encyclopedia #140
Aberrant form of catfish
Description:
Hooked barbels seek out prey in the twisting mangroves. A once sluggish fish given haste upon crimson fins.
Comment: Alarmingly, there is not included mention of the catfish’s own venomous spines. With those bigger fins comes ample danger in handling this river monster.
How to catch: Exactly as the above eel, with the minor advantage of a suitable trawl net being able to bag catfish.
Effigy Crab
Encyclopedia #141
Aberrant form of horseshoe crab
Description:
Wisps of yellow light flicker within this ghastly shell, a screaming skull with a spinal tail.
Comment: I wish I could just dissect the little mutant to find out exactly what’s ticking inside that bone armor. Whether flesh, gem, or fluid, the whole animal will be needed as one of the pigments making up the Golden Treasure paint selection.
How to catch: Simply set crab pots about the Twisted Strand, specifically at water no deeper than 10 meters.
Mire Screecher
Encyclopedia #142
Aberrant form of giant mud crab
Description:
A lashing yellow tongue whips around a mouth of flattened teeth. Two humanlike eyeballs burst between dripping claws.
Comment: When a wise man once remarked that he had fought mud crabs more fearsome than you, perhaps he had been referring to these. Take one of them down to Little Marrow to complete the requirements for a beautiful new paint job.
How to catch: With enough space, these are probable to also turn up in the same pots as your horseshoe crabs, but their full depth range runs between 5 and 25 meters.
Ossified Searobin
Encyclopedia #143
Aberrant form of armormed searobin
Description:
Chittering mandibles scythe the air in front of this deep-dweller, its small body encased in a suit of thick bone.
Comment: The first abominable spawn of Devil’s Spine makes for a fine greeting to the volcanic region’s gritty underbelly. A similar boon as the bony wreckfish, but accepted in grace.
How to catch: Pack a rod, and or your net, and sail the shallows at Devil’s Spine. They spawn by daylight.
Infernal Eel
Encyclopedia #144
Aberrant form of cusk eel
Description:
Grown fat from countless corpses that rest in the deep. The harbinger of a sick mercy for lost souls.
Comment: There is nothing I can say to add on to the poetry of that description, but I appreciate that this eel wears a big smile.
How to catch: Get ready to take the heat. They can be hauled or trawled, but only with the proper heat-resistant equipment… oh, and only after dark.
Every Dredge Aberration (2023), Part 12
Serpentine Mackerel
Encyclopedia #145
Aberrant form of snake mackerel
Description:
It lashes out with its fangs, and tail. A hissing rises from its mouth, and then from the water around you.
Comment: What I enjoy about this one is not the way that the dark forces have warped it away from its natural form, but accentuated its original unique qualities. For an example, take note of the intimidating look of a real snake mackerel. Good eating I bet, either way.
How to catch: Funny thing, for requiring a trip all the way out to Devil’s Spine, this fish actually has a relatively poor value to inventory space ratio. Unless the wiki has been misled, its base price has been written at $50, matching the same value as the three headed cod which can be hunted right out of little marrow. Consequently, the method to get one of these for your own encyclopedia is not much different either. Haul or trawl at coastal depth, the time of day not mattering.
Tattered Mackerel
Encyclopedia #146
Aberrant form of snake mackerel
Description:
A tangle of ribbons stream behind this fish, its form converging around a shadowy head. A strip slides away, retreating to the depths.
Comment: Still wondering what trick of survival these strands are playing. Are they meant as distractions, detaching in the jaws of prey in order to save the main head? Or, could they be an aberrant way of spawning more fiends, fleeing to grow and mature anew?
How to catch: ^^^, with the obvious sidenote that this is the more valuable variant.
Defaced Skate
Encyclopedia #147
Aberrant form of pale skate
Description:
Bones replace cartilage and erupt through soft skin. A frightened new form begins to emerge.
Comment: Speaking of bones, that right there is the sort of imagery which rolls a shiver down my own. Fantastic job.
How to catch: This critter only dwells in the hearth of the Spine’s volcanic waters. Bring a suitable net or rod and start your search by dawn’s bright.
Rapt Shark
Encyclopedia #148
Aberrant form of ghost shark
Description:
A grinning maw turned upwards to the sky. Wing-like fins, ready to take flight.
Comment: A worrying foreshadow, very very worrying indeed. A creature in all visual ways meant for the depths, away from light, yet threatening to jump beyond the surface. Another one of deep’s warnings for what kind of new world it plans to replace this one with. More interestingly is that rapt was the adjective decided most appropriate. A clever double entendre that I hope did not go unappreciated.
How to catch: If you ditched your abyssal rod(s) before you arrived at Devil’s Spine, this where bad news arrives to tell you that you’re far from through using them. Ghost sharks feast at nearly the darkest depths, and are not picky about the time.
Twisted Shark
Encyclopedia #149
Aberrant form of frilled shark
Description:
Three tails that twist and turn. Three unite behind the head. Thrice the body that must be fed.
Comment: A delicious rhyme, whether intentional or not. An aquatic realization of the ancient three-fish motif, allegedly seen across many of the world’s major religions.
*other note- purely measuring by price proportional to inventory slots required to hold one of these, THIS is actually the single most valuable renewable catch in Dredge, beating out the other aberrant sharks and even the pale grasper at a whopping $50 per cargo square.*
How to catch: They lurk the Spine’s volcanic waters, only able to be brought in by hook and rod.
Grasping Snail
Encyclopedia #150
Aberrant form of volcano snail
Description:
Bony fingers extend though a membrane of mucous, feeling for a target. The frantic eye locks with yours.
Comment: An odd reminder in an odd place of the evolutionarily relation between gastro and cephalopods. What are you but another timeline’s vision of the nautilus?
How to catch: If you are of the same mind as me, this catch may quickly become more nuisance than wanted after you’ve discovered the species. Like the untainted volcano snail, they have a surprisingly poor value per slot, and take up a whole 4 units of space within a crab pot. They can be caught in traps placed down to 10 meters deep.
Every Dredge Aberration (2023), Part 13
Sable Reacher
Encyclopedia #151
Aberrant form of squat lobster
Description:
Wings of muscle spin webs between inky black legs. A gloomy core grows in the deep.
Comment: You know what else will glow? The sheam of fresh pigment across my hull, as soon as I have the other half of the black abyss recipe.
How to catch: Get your pots fit and ready, keeping in mind the 5 slots of inventory needed for just one squat lobster. Set them to wait between the surface and 25 meters. I recommend setting pots deeper than 10 meters at minimum to avoid volcano snails.
Umbral Puppet
Encyclopedia #152
Aberrant form of spider crab
Description:
Long limbs hang idly from a body mounted with blackened spheres. It waits for the call of the void.
Comment: We all dread in the assumption that it waits not for a call from the depths, but a call from above. Claim one of these before it realizes its dream, for a sleek new boat paint is calling for you.
How to catch: Conveniently, these can be caught in crab pots placed at any depth within the confines of Devil’s Spine. That’s right! Your only barrier to effectively catching these will be a spacious requirement of at least 7 slots, making this a more fitting use than ever for a highly upgraded trap or the maw of the deep. All previous info in mind, it’s easy to conclude that the most effective way to hunt for umbral puppets/spider crabs alone is to place pots past 25 meters.
Anchovy King
Encyclopedia #153
Aberrant form of anchovy
Description:
...and in their numbers, they will rise.
Comment: This is truly a gruesome reference to the knowing. I don’t suppose my fisherman knows anything of rat or squirrel kings, but he knows that the more meat, the merrier in this economy.
How to catch: *Note- THIS exact aberration is one of many reasons I continue to give for why it is wise to obtain and use an oceanic trawling net sooner, rather than later, in this journey. Where my older advice would have suggested obtaining the heavy duty trawl net as soon as possible, I’m instead now telling you not to do this, if and only IF you are able to venture to the Pale Reach. Within the heart of those icy fragments you can find a trawling set that puts the heavy duty equipment to shame, in that it takes less cargo space, works in 4 different kinds of sea, and most importantly, it raises the chance for netting an aberrant fish by 5%.* As for advice specific to the anchovy king, it is what is known by the encyclopedia as an open-ocean dweller. It calls none of the major islands its home, and lingers out in the far, far ocean between and around the main regions. Rumor also has it that the upper left portion of F10 on the map has an unusually high concentration of anchovy spawning, so it wouldn’t hurt to focus there if you are determined to bag this ball of fish sooner.
Leeching Prawn
Encyclopedia #154
Aberrant form of scarlet prawn
Description:
This tiny parasite rasps away the flesh of whatever it attaches to. Its hooked legs ensure an enduring grip.
Comment: Requesting for someone to let me know whether or not I’m the only one seeing a resemblance to another world’s “rock grub”
How to catch: Like the humble anchovy and its mutagenic sibling, open-ocean prawn can take a lot of luck or patience for most fisherman to add to their collection, for they also cannot be caught by rod; however, they can be collected by a crab pot in addition to an oceanic trawl net. They only take a single inventory slot and swim at any depth greater than 25 meters in the open sea.
Razormouth Tuna
Encyclopedia #155
Aberrant form of blackfin tuna
Description:
Half teeth, half muscle, this fish's sole purpose is the pursuit of its unfortunate prey.
Comment: Much the function of the normal blackfin, so what really has changed past the eyes and the teeth?
How to catch: Haul or trawl out of those vast, open waters.
Decrepit Viperfish
Encyclopedia #156
Aberrant form of viperfish
Description:
Gnashing teeth are the only hint that this withered body still holds life. An urge to bite that persists in perpetuity.
Comment: And yet still, as with all of the Deep’s children, there’s more value to be found here than the typical viperfish… somehow.
How to catch: Bring a line that can tackle the abyss out on the open ocean. Nothing more will be needed.
Every Dredge Aberration (2023), Part 14
Collapsed Viperfish
Encyclopedia #157
Aberrant form of viperfish
Description:
A rejection of the light - or a return to the ways of the deep?
Comment: Well then. I was content to assume the former on my own. After all, many deep-dwelling fish can endure a horrific strain from a quick ascension to the surface, but no, I was denied that peace of mind by the second half of the description. It is harsher learning that to some, the Deep’s ways are a full-body prolapse.
How to catch: Much the same as the previous entry. Abyssal rod, open sea. Simple enough.
Skeletal Moonfish
Encyclopedia #158
Aberrant form of moonfish
Description:
Chittering bones still operate a ghostly body impossibly devoid of organs.
Comment: And yet they stay bound in a new ghostly skin. Imagine if the organs were all unharmed, merely now transparent to the eye. Or don’t, the fish is every bit the same seeming abomination.
How to catch: I admit with no reservation that this (and the one below) is a fish I stooped to baiting out and using atrophy for over scouring for many natural spawn points. They aren’t impossible to find, just few and far between, and especially tricky to cast in. See, moonfish are one of the more dangerous quarries to seek, combining the fact that they are strictly nocturnal and only found in the open ocean. An underwhelming challenge for the experienced angler, it still remains hazardous to linger so far out in the night’s fog if you consider yourself still wet behind the ears in this place. Mechanically, you’ll only need an oceanic rod to pull them up. Keep your wits about you and your lights on.
Beaked Moonfish
Encyclopedia #159
Aberrant form of moonfish
Description:
A rocky body that bears the scars and scratches of things from below. A crushing beak, a tool of its own deep terror.
Comment: Letting you know that the maximum size of this specimen can top out at about a meter and a half long. It speaks volumes to the strength of this animal to be able to swim on with all the added weight.
How to catch: ^^^
Congealed Rattail
Encyclopedia #160
Aberrant form of
Description:
The flesh of this deep dweller has turned to a thick ooze, secreting an oily gel that covers its entire body.
Comment: Probably with the texture of hagfish slime. A revolting change, but one that cold serve a new survival advantage against predation. Except from us, of course.
How to catch: Drag them forth from the very deepest corners of the wild sea. This creature knows nothing but the pitch black of the hadal zone.
Charred Sunfish
Encyclopedia #161
Aberrant form of
Description:
Scales chipped and flaking, its crackling body is hot to the touch.
Comment: That’s a crispy pancake right there. Does the deep burn? Perhaps this is a similar case to the ailment of aberrant tarpons we saw before in the twisted strand. Sometimes their boons make the kiss of the sun… unwelcoming to their new bodies. A common mola would frequently bask at the surface as a natural behavior, and such habits may die hard.
How to catch: True to name, the ocean sunfish prefers the open waters, and sunlight. All you will need is an oceanic rod and definitely your spyglass to track a good spot down.
Glaring Sunfish
Encyclopedia #162
Aberrant form of ocean sunfish
Description:
Ocular tongues watch from socketed mouths. Each offers its own form of deep pity.
Comment: It’s like looking into the face of an angel… an emissary of the fathomless, gazing with sympathy to the unworthy. Why? Because they’ve seen what’s coming.
How to catch: ^^^
Every Dredge Aberration (2023), Part 15
*Welcome to the Pale Reach~!
Fractalline Icefish
Encyclopedia #163
Aberrant form of icefish
Description:
Crystals of ice pierce through its body, distorting scales, teeth and fins.
Comment: The fog certainly hasn’t lost its touch for craftsmanship out in these frigid waters. Here we can already find in this wretch a namesake made poetically literal.
How to catch: Found in abundance throughout those glaciers and cold. You’ll only need a rod or trawl net capable of functioning in the new icey biome. For now, focus on the rod, you’ll already have moved onto other aberrations by the time you obtain the superior of the new DLC nets.
Thawed Icefish
Encyclopedia #164
Aberrant form of icefish
Description:
Globs of flesh drip from this fish, its departure from the icy waters causing an instant, irreversible reaction.
Comment: It seems the most unfortunate, compared alongside the former and upcoming variants. It’s fathomable that this is but naught one of the Deep’s rejections, unable to be fortified in fractals, and now all the weaker to ascent. Flesh brought ruin and change, failing to meet expectation.
How to catch: ^^^
Astral Icefish
Encyclopedia #165
Aberrant form of icefish
Description:
Constellations of light dance through its body, stitching fin to flesh and spine to bone.
Comment: The most interesting of the icefish aberrants, and finally a true taste of the Pale Reach’s unique flavor of corruption. Somewhere in these waters echoes the song of the stars just as loud as the song of the depths. Your search, your hunger to listen and know is only just beginning anew.
How to catch: ^^^
Bubbling Char
Encyclopedia #166
Aberrant form of char
Description:
Seared flesh forms the mantle of an incandescent core. Water boils into the air around it.
Comment: A charred char, if you will… or less playfully, a startling departure from the Reach’s expected theme, looking more at home in the volcanic crevice of Devil’s spine than under the ice sheets. Certainly this only makes the observation of the creature the more discordant from nature and reason alike. The only thing predictable about the Deep’s grand design is its indifference for the laws it did not decide.
How to catch: Pretty so the same advice as had for the icefish, minus the possibility of using a net, so, even more reason to rely on the old rod method.
Hinged Wolffish
Encyclopedia #167
Aberrant form of wolffish
Description:
Teeth interlock through flesh to create a brutish trap. Countless yet will meet their doom in the deep.
Comment: What else, but another agent of the cycle?- The cycle of life, death, undeath, and unlife. The corruption must thrive and spread, and all that seeks to do either must feed.
How to catch: Turn those jaws into a device of the fish’s own entrapment. Suit yourself up with that ice worthy rod and go out for a little night fishing in the Pale Reach.
Craterous Seer
Encyclopedia #168
Aberrant form of stargazer
Description:
A bright eye spins inside an impacted socket. An answer from above.
Comment: Give a round of an applause for this one especially. Out of all the new discoveries found in the pale reach, this breed of specimen is the one that makes me the most uncomfortable to look at. Someone please tell the fog and/or “above” that no matter how hard I search over these waves, I’ve still yet to find who the hell was asking.
How to catch: Save this for one of the last to mark off your encyclopedia. They can only be found with an ice-ready trawl net, and I highly recommend skipping the brittle one that is offered at the bleak pontoon. Patience and a little searching for your purpose among the ice will find you a much greater tool.
Every Dredge Aberration (2023), Part 16
Feral Lizardfish
Encyclopedia #169
Aberrant form of lizardfish
Description:
A bipedal body burgeons with primitive limbs, preparing for an ascent.
Comment: …Is there really anything else worth saying?
How to catch: These awful, awful things share the frigid waters with the rest of the new region’s fish. I’d recommend using the rod to seek them out over the dinky little net offered by the merchants, for reasons I hope I made clear in the last segment.
Bulbous Toothfish
Encyclopedia #170
Aberrant form of toothfish
Description:
Vessels feed a distended, fluid-filled body. A shadow stirs inside.
Comment: I do hate that “Is this where pale graspers come from?” was the most optimistic line of thought I initially ran down at the first sight of this poor host. A trophy sized specimen can be caught nearing 7 feet long, that passenger is not to be assumed as some ignorable little cuttlefish. Horrible things have grown from smaller seeds. Listen, at least in my view, that bastard mystery spawn of the stars is a thing to fear in implication. Relieve these poor fish of their burden, and the seas of these invading strangers, and do it without guilt.
How to catch: This is a rod-only catch of the icey waters.
Grisly Shark
Encyclopedia #171
Aberrant form of goblin shark
Description:
Errant teeth push through failing skin. A single mouth is not enough.
Comment: But can the other mouths also do this?
How to catch: For time spent catching these, they can be a decent money maker for those still in the process of exploring the Reach. Rod them up from those dark, chilly depths where found.
Pale Grasper
Encyclopedia #172
Aberrant form of colossal squid
Description:
Hands of ice reach upward, a sharp hoarfrost blooming across whatever they touch.
Comment: Enormous, eldritch, iconic… the largest and most infamous of the catchable stock under that ice. My theory runs that these colossal agents work on behalf of the great sleeping master, patchworking and keeping the flows knit together, even in these warmer waters where otherwise impossible.
How to catch: For most, this is the very last aberration, at least within the Pale Reach, they will obtain. They are a net-only catch that is only awarded to the patient and/or the lucky, to the chagrin of many a fisherman around the ice. Requiring 11 slots of cargo space, they are completely ignored by the brittle net, requiring you to have otherwise completed your exploration and tasks in the Pale Reach before even thinking about trawling one of these up. You’ll know the appropriate equipment when you find it. Colossal squid are already an uncommon sight, and their twisted brethren much more so. This is why I advise attaching as much other equipment known to raise the chances of grotesque catches as can fit to help the odds. At a whopping $500-$625 per specimen, you’ll think your time well compensated for at first. Not to burst any bubbles on that front, but do keep in mind that their incredible size rounds their base value-per-slot as around $45.45. This is a relatively high price for a fish, but it is still narrowly beat by the cleft mouth shark’s $45.83 per slot base price.
Fallen Stars
Encyclopedia #173
Aberrant form of sea stars
Description:
An assembly of asteroids, conjoined in the dark. Finger-like roots stretch down through the substrate.
Comment: How many more will they send down? Less and less, Dredge gives me a world where I can look up at the great expanse beyond the ground and sea, and call it “the heavens”. There are things below us we were never meant to disturb, just as the things above should know not to disturb us. How many rungs exist on this great ladder?
How to catch: Taking only 2 slots and readily found anywhere in The Reach plentiful in life and measuring at over 50 meters deep, you shouldn’t have to do much waiting to get your hands on sea stars with your crab pots.
King’s Wreath
Encyclopedia #174
Aberrant form of King Crab
Description:
A clockwork crown of claws. A cycle of succession in the deep.
Comment: You know, it’s almost disappointing that there were no new paints to be found from scouring the Pale Reach. I would have found the slate-grey of these mutated crabs to be a nice addition to the pigments available in Little Marrow, fittingly cold and sleek. I guess a full grotesque collection will be keepsake enough for tackling these new abominations. To date, the King’s Wreath makes the final entry in the encyclopedia its throne.
How to catch: Like the above, this is another quarry meant for the pot. Same depth and biome, just keep in mind that they take up a 2x2 square of space when selecting your traps. I still personally use the maw of the deep for all of my crab fishing, and I carried that habit unchanged to the new area.
Addendum: Close Encounters of the Piscine kind
I bear news of startling implication, as have many other watchers of the peculiar, for what was once a hesitant speculation has come to pass as prophecy.
It is happening. The corruption of marine life has finally been confirmed to be on the rise, spread beyond what once we assumed were its contained boundaries, and even with it, arrives the infamous Marrows miasma. From one wonder of the world, now these grotesque creatures are finding themselves visitor to another- the Blue Hole tourist destination; a craterous lagoon gaining renown for its own rumored mysteries and for being home to a global headquarters of exotic dining.
There is still no answer to whether the crimson fog is what induces the mutagenic infection to take hold, or if the fog itself is a product of the rift-spawn’s presence. All we can be certain of is that the fog does indeed signify the arrival of these tenacious breeds. At least, as of yet, the weather anomaly has been noted to not bring any significant risk to boats and ports it passes over, other than the decreased visibility. Compared to what has been noted of its qualities closer to its source, it appears that crimson fog is of no special concern this far away from the Marrow Islands. A previous disappearance of a cargo vessel around Blue hole has also been confirmed as not associated with any red fog event. Nonetheless, local advisory already warns mariners and swimmers of lingering in the coastal fog after dark, and more than a couple wirlpool incidents have been correlated with it.
Yet, just as in their home waters, the fog signals a warning for most to avoid, and an exciting trail for some to follow. Merchants and devotees of a fledgling religious movement are flocking to the atoll in their interest for the tainted fish, and to sate their demand, more brave fishermen have risen to the task of harvesting specimens. Amazingly, new reports have even come in from some who were fearless enough to spearfish for these aberrations. For the very first time now, we have up face to face sightings with living aberrants! Never-before-seen details about some of their wild behavior and ferociousness is, and longer a matter of conjecture, thanks to anonymous accounts from the Blue Hole region.
[Fog Coast - Part One]
[Fog Coast - Part Two]
[Black Cliff - Part One]
[Black Cliff - Part Two]
[Jellyfish Basin - Part One]
[Jellyfish Basin - Part Two]
Aberrant Fish
The first hint many an angler will get of the dark, insidious secrets these waters hold,
and yet, they are the first thing to be accepted as only another flavor of mundane.
The game text calls them grotesque. The fishmonger calls them corrupted. You get to call them a bonus. Rather than fear and revile them, tradesmen will pay a shiny extra penny to add them into their stock. They are gestured to and spoken of, but never truly elaborated on by the townsfolk. They have probably been here long before most of them, and so will be here long after they are gone. They were certainly here before you. Maybe you don’t need their answers, and yet if you are like me, you still witlessly question and keep dredging for more.
Like many things pulled from those cursed depths, they whisper flecks of madness from an impossible voice. What messages do they carry, and what forces do they play vessel to? Are they the lingering embers from a long-extinguished calamity, or are they harbingers of the next one to come?
I believe we have already seen signs of fire with our own eyes- impossible, great beasts that prowl the four (now five) coasts, the dying cult, gibbering fog…. That damned book. These tortured creatures are but another form of the same smoke.
To the question of where they came from, if your fisherman pokes around enough and braves the darkness, he may have already found a response in one of the many obelisks scattered around the map. Specifically, I refer to this.
This would suggest the aberrants themselves are what leaked in through the cracks that the largest of all monsters wants to rend apart? Not entirely, but in part. For the researcher at the Stellar Basin came to her own conclusion I want to factor in.
Her words give credence to the possibility that it is actually those greater beasts themselves at the heart of the corruption. I think she was half onto something, because what if these twisted forms, both large and small, were blooms along the same set of festering roots?
The more dark stones you disturb in the frenzy of your own madness, the more you learn about the age before your arrival, about the islands, and especially about their current guardians. The Mindsuckers- carrion puppet masters given a home, the Basin creature- a spore that miraculously survived its dive to the abyss, and the Serpent- lifeless stone made animate and malicious, all had their creation remembered in great detail by the obelisks. Some hints point that their emergence was rather recent, relative to even more powerful beings, such as the leviathan.
Maybe there are even more unseen horrors far below, blessedly out of our reach, for now. My view is that the malformed beasts are the aimless children of that unfathomable thing which waits beyond the veil. With them came its influence, and its corruption, and from them it continues to spread to all life surrounding. The smaller rifts were always a transformative disease upon the harbor’s fish, but with the rise of the new monsters, the sickness runs farther and less avoidably than ever. Whether these aberrant spawn are a gift to the worthy, or another deceptive evil that leads to madness remains left to be seen.
I will be giving a spotlight to each of these fascinating specimens at the back of Dredge’s encyclopedia, including those found in the Pale Reach, for further comment and appreciation. Updating the list below as we go along!
[#79-84]
[#85-90]
[#91-96]
[#97-102]
[#103-108]
[#109-114]
[#115-120]
[#121-126]
[#127-132]
[#133-138]
[#139-144]
[#145-150]
[#163-168]
[#169-174]
[Bonus I. Night Angler]
[Bonus II. Serpent]
[Bonus III. Basin Creature]
[Bonus IV. Mindsuckers]
[Bonus V. Unseeing Mother]
[Bonus VI. “Narwhal”]
Dave the Diver: On Aberrations
Between a scattering of recently discovered islands rests a jewel of paradise, mystery, and a hint of exotic danger. The famous Blue Hole has found a name for itself among the most envied tourist destinations among the world, with a gorgeous view, thrills to experience, and rich natural resources… but on a day like this, the scene has become anything but recognizable as the bustling hub described. That is because a ponderous fog has decided to linger over the lagoon by the time my vessel reaches port.
Despite the warm weather, I could feel my hairs standing on end from the very moment the clouds had enveloped our ship. Aside from the occasional day like this, fog horns would usually be a rare sound to hear across the bay. Since the discovery of the area, vacationers have enjoyed a tropical climate punctuated by mild storms. It all paints a picture so drastically unlike the eerie one I have pursued to this end. By sunset, I know that the white mist outside will give way to a crimson haze. With it, begins the investigation into the unusual animals only spotted on previous fogged nights: What familiar aberrants have made their way to the region, what are they capable of, and to where they fit within the additional puzzle of Blue Hole’s astounding ecosystem.
The Fog Coast, Part One
The hour is roughly 10pm, and “Blue” Hole has turned to a sight otherworldly. Thick, red vapors and an eerie silence hang in place of what was a starlight sky over the whistles of dolphins a mere night ago. The locals claim that the lagoon is an inscrutable locale, whose underwater geography both hosts an impossible collection of species and undergoes rapid, unexplained changes every few hours. On a night of crimson fog, it has been made enigmatic even from the surface view. Rocks easily seen by daylight make sailing close to the shorelines a hazardous endeavor along a coast with no lighthouse or other navigational indicators. It is a coastal venture treacherous, but also rewarding, for much more hides under these waves than the rocks. A watery gyre is barely seen at the edge of shiplight, and at its core, I have heard there can be found treasures far more interesting than mere gold.
• Encyclopedia Entry No. 83, 84
[Testimony of a local fisherman]
“Now it’s not unusual for cod to happen up close to the shores at night. Obviously, I was hoping for it or I wouldn’t have been fishing in that stuff, but there was something else going on with these fish. Something not right. They weren’t taking to the bait, but they just kept coming up closer. Like they were trying best they could to get up on my ankles without getting stranded. Almost like they see someone standing on the beach and that’s all they’re interested in. Not that I let them, but they got close enough to tell something ugly about them. The only thing I managed to get hooked snapped my line before I could figure out what I was even looking at, other than big teeth and nasty looking eyes.“
Analysis: Our first descriptive cases of mutated cod corroborated with archived specimens from off the coast of Greater Marrow. Though there are instances where residents have managed to capture these codfish whole and live, no success has been found in attempting to keep them or any other mutated fish in captivity, due to their propensity to die shortly after they are harvested from the ocean. The two ‘flavors’ of tainted cod found here include the Fanged and Three-Headed variants, with no cases of hypertrophy. Their behavior has observed to feature heightened predatory behavior, to the point of stalking and testing large animals as oppurtunistic targets. They approach sluggishly at first, and lunge to close distances. They pose some hazard to swimmers, notably the unarmed, but can be reeled or netted as readily as any scrod. The three-headed cods are generally larger than the fanged variant, and both can be found close to the surface during a fog night.
• Encyclopedia Entry No. 79, 80
[We join the crew of a commercial trawler, company left unnamed to permit this revord of the onboard operations. As the ship coasts upon the outskirts of one of the smaller outcrops, fishermen gather at the fresh haul to do their work. Mackerel from all global ranges and climates incredulously line the deck of the vessel, meticulously sorted into an array of containers. One worker calls out as an unusual sight is plucked from the pile- a brown shiner with half a dozen too many eyes for an average fish. The bosun indicates for me a specific container the individual is packed into. What I find there is a collection of similar wretches, scales still twitching and mouths gasping wet with a shimmering fluid.]
“We don’t actually come across that many of them in the nets. One for about every hundred of the healthy ones. Their meat is considered tainted and has to be separated from the catch, but we aren’t allowed to return them to the environment either. They’ll stay on ice for now, later today they’ll be dropped off with a merchant who’s agreed to handle the… disposal.”
Analysis: In spite of the sheer diversity of mackerel to be seen at Blue Hole, these turned pacific mackerel are the only shared species between Greater Marrow and this living collection in such regard. Specifically, the Many-Eyed and Grotesque mackerels found in shallower coastal water. Like most aberrants, they are prone to agitation and exhibit territorial, if not predatory aggression at first contact. Like all aberrations, their blood runs a purple hue, and their sightings dry up once the fog has dissipated.
• Encyclopedia Entry No. 91, 92
[Shared anecdote from a lionfish diver]
“You have to really love a place like Blue Hole to do what I do. A lot of people don’t think of lionfish as an invasive species here, but they can do real damage to reefs where they’re not native, and ours are no exception. Worse still is that they’re far more aggressive here than anywhere else in the world, and not any less venomous. I thought if anyone was prepared to do a part in protecting local animals from these new pests, why not me? And yeah, I bagged a few. I speared things with a few too many eyes, a few too many heads, a few too many teeth. I found these great big ugly fish with no eyes at all that still would come right at you. And then I saw a… thing. The thing, Reason I don’t go night diving anymore. Came out of the dark like a ghost, black bones and green light. It didn’t look like something that should have even been real. I was lining a shot up and I felt like my arm had taken a lion’s barb. I didn’t even know what happened, that thing sparked, and I felt pure pain pulse through half of my body. Everything was panic after that. Panic to get back up and the hell out of the water. Fingers were still tingling almost until morning. All I know that I know is, I’m sticking to day hunting.”
Analysis: What’s to be expected was found in observation of the Tusked grouper. Despite their blindness, they show no hesitance to begin tracking and pursuing any nearby disturbance of water they sense. While their sole offensive boast is a strong mouth full of elongated teeth, the Voltaic variant wields a far less conventional weapon. When approached to a range of a couple of meters, it is capable of discharging a potent shock. Likely, this is utilized both as a defensive and hunting technique, similar to the currents produced by an electric eel. Similar accounts have attested to this stunning capability, reporting temporary paralytic effects from direct contact with the fish. Mechanism of this ability remains unknown. Especial caution recommended in presence of Voltaic grouper, not only for the risk of attack, but also from the drowning hazard posed by their stray arcs.
Woe, aberrations be upon ye.
Radiant Squid
All-Seeing Cod
Anchovy King
Vortex Interloper