Cave Fisher

Creature Family

Cave fishers lurk in dark corners near the ceilings of caves and underground structures, lying in wait for prey to approach. When it does, the cave fisher excretes thin, tough, and very sticky filaments at its prey with lightning speed to capture it.

A cave fisher eats just about any live prey smaller than itself, though anything smaller than a rat isn’t much of a meal for it. When a cave fisher captures such a creature, it often leaves the hapless animal entangled, using it as bait to attract larger creatures. Because the adhesive on its filament doesn’t last long, the fisher frequently needs to eat one filament and excrete a new one. The filaments are translucent and can be hard to see when they’re still and in darkness.

Cave fishers hatch with the ability to excrete filaments, but they molt many times before reaching their adult size of about 7 feet long and 400 pounds. They often leave shed shells in conspicuous locations as decoys.