Solar Manta

Solar manta rays are incredibly intelligent and uniquely charismatic for a fish. Known to defend the patches of sea they call home from monsters and invaders, they are sometimes referred to as "sea paladins." They have an impressive wingspan of 15 feet, and their brown and white coloration can change in order to communicate with fish or other mantas. Solar mantas are combination filter feeders and hunters, and they use their thumb shaped cephalic fins on their front to maneuver plankton and occasionally small fish into their mouth. It spends most of its time in bright waters, absorbing solar power through its skin that it releases from its cephalic fins in bursts of magical light to defend itself.
Solar mantas frequently engage in symbiotic relationships with the other fish species in their homes, occasionally with fish species not known to engage in such behavior with any other species. It accumulates a veritable army of allies that follow and defend it that it defends in turn, and the sight of a solar manta swimming alone is a strange sight indeed.
It is well that the solar manta recruits allies so effectively, because the behaviour it is most known for is its semi-nightly "crusades." It has been observed that the solar manta will spend the entire day in shallow waters, feeding on plankton and storing solar energy in its body. Then, when the sun sets, the solar manta and its fish allies will dive deep into the depths surrounding whatever reef, kelp forest, or patch of sea it calls home and hunt down aberrations that crawl up from Davy Jones's locker. It is not known what drives the solar manta to embark on these dangerous and demanding nightly crusades, though some naturalists theorize that these mantas may posess a sense of honor and loyalty towards their homes.

Classification: fish.
Diet: carnivore.
Lifespan: 40 years.
Native Habitat: tropical and temperate sea regions.