Spidereel

Spidereels are a family of eel primarily known for the “web” they discharge when setting up traps for prey. Species range from the size of a human hand to the size of a Escale—and according to Saeno legend, even larger. All but the largest varieties reside exclusively in coral reefs and ravines, where the eel can find a pair or more of anchoring points for its web. Coloration varies between species, and even individuals, but generally matches its environment to serve as camouflage.

Hunting Behavior

Spidereels are carnivorous, and so get all of their sustenance via predation. They do this by setting traps with their webs, which tangle and immobilize their prey; Spidereels are generally more agile than they are hardy, precluding direct confrontations. They target prey of equal or larger size than them, so their traps are laid in their territory’s medium-traffic passages, to ensure neither the eel nor the web is overwhelmed. Once the web has entangled something, the eel will emerge from its hiding place and swim circles around its victim, discharging more web to wrap and further immobilize it. Then, the eel will kill its victim with bites as quickly as it can, and drag it into a safer place to consume it if the trap’s location was not safe enough already.
Spidereel traps are single use and lack elaborate patterns or the unparalleled structural integrity of their namesake’s web. The most typical traps are interleaved diagonal strips anchored to either side of the passage’s walls. Rarely, a spidereel may create more elaborate, resistant webs to defend its territory from rival spidereels.

Spidereel Thread

Spidereel web is made of extremely sticky, transparent threads of fluid expelled from the tail of the eel. In isolation, it is very difficult to see, but with enough time, it will become visible due to detritus sticking to its surface. Furthermore, the thread is largely made of water, making it very receptive to coloration via blood, ink, or similar agents. It is mildly stretchy, and thus difficult to snap.
Outside of water, spidereel thread quickly dries out and becomes rigid. It becomes completely opaque, its coloration locked inside. Though it is typically very brittle, if it is “weaved” together it can become firm as wood, with a fraction of the weight. The dried thread does not react to water or return to its original form, but if put to a flame, the hardened thread will shrink and melt. The difficulty of crafting with spidereel thread, its lack of renown, and its “cheap” feel in comparison to equally rare materials make crafts utilizing it very expensive, to the bewilderment of unaware potential buyers.
Occasionally, in particularly violent struggles with a spidereel trap, gobs of the thread will peel and snap off to drift through the ocean. Shores near spidereel territory are occasionally littered with these, in the form of tumbleweed-like scraps of dried thread amidst the sand. Their erratic shape and long-lost pliability makes them quaint little curios at best.