Interesting comment about the crash fish. I hadn't thought of them logically, just as an interesting game detail. Logically/naturally I completely agree they don't work...but this is yet another of the real world/game world disconnects that I don't mind.
Maybe it's only the mature crash fishes which have already reproduced and are guarding the offspring/eggs in the crash plant that use the suicide tactic to discourage predators from eating the plant and thus the offspring.
That's the theory I have on the behavior of the Crash. And maybe the explosion will warn other predators to stay away from there as well (due to the Crash nesting as a group).
The thing about crash fish is that they make no damn sense. An animal who's only defense is to kill itself? Pretty sure there's a reason we don't see too many creatures like that in the real world (hint: natural selection). Maybe the crash fish don't even reproduce at all - maybe they're nothing more than the "fruit" of the crash plant, grown by the plant to serve the plant.
Consider that the Crash fish doesn't exhibit any other behavior of an animal/fish - it doesn't wander around, it doesn't eat, it doesn't do anything but sit there like a fruit until you get close.
I don't think its a fish at all. I think it is a gas propelled fruit/seed pod that happens to be colored like a fish, and is expelled by the plant when your movement in the water disturbs the main plant too much. The seedpod is disturbed enough to break off at the base (inside the bloom) and then it launches like a balloon and tries to home in on you by following the disturbance in the water. It leaves a trail of bubbles when it 'swims' after you, and the plant has magnesium (in some form) as a resource once the seedpod has left. Pretty good suggestion that there's some kind of chemical reaction going on to generate gas propulsion.
Comments
That's the theory I have on the behavior of the Crash. And maybe the explosion will warn other predators to stay away from there as well (due to the Crash nesting as a group).
I don't think its a fish at all. I think it is a gas propelled fruit/seed pod that happens to be colored like a fish, and is expelled by the plant when your movement in the water disturbs the main plant too much. The seedpod is disturbed enough to break off at the base (inside the bloom) and then it launches like a balloon and tries to home in on you by following the disturbance in the water. It leaves a trail of bubbles when it 'swims' after you, and the plant has magnesium (in some form) as a resource once the seedpod has left. Pretty good suggestion that there's some kind of chemical reaction going on to generate gas propulsion.
Consider these real world examples
And as far as making a gas with Magnesium, it turns out its the second most common mineral in seawater, and reacts with it to make hydrogen gas (under certain conditions):
http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/water/magnesium/magnesium-and-water.htm