Marine life of Gor

Carp~~found in the Delta of the Vosk~~

QUOTE: "...turning as it made a swift strike, probably a Vosk carp or marsh turtle." Raiders of Gor page 1

Dock Eel~~black freshwater fish; 4' long and weighing 8-10 lbs.; carnivorous; inhabit the shallow waters around the dock and wharves of river ports; attracted by blood; ferocious and swift hunger who bites large pieces of flesh at a time~~

QUOTE: "Below me the water was swarming with eels. The blood from my back, I realized, running down the blade and dripping into the water, had attracted them." Rogue of Gor page 129.

" When he stood in about a foot of water, among the pilings, near the next wharf, he struck down madly at his legs with his left hand, striking two dock eels from his calf." Rogue of Gor page 154

"The dock eels, black, about four feet long, are tenacious creatures. They had not relinquished their hold on the flesh in their jaws when they had been forcibley struck away from the leg, back into the water." Rogue of Gor pages 154-5 "I was only dimly conscious of the wetness of my back. Then something wet and heavy, slithering; leapt upward out of the waver, and splashed back. My leg felt stinging. It had not been able to fasten its jaw on me. I looked downward. Two more heads, tapering, menacing, solid, were emerged from the water, looking up at me. Then, streaking from under the water, suddenly breaking its surface, another body, some four feet in length, about eight or ten pounds in weight, leapt upward . . . I knew that the fastening of those jaws, in a fair bite, could gouge ounces of flesh from a man's body." Rogue of Gor page 130.

Grunt~~large, carnivorous, salt-water fish which inhabits Thassa; often attracted by the blood of a wounded creature; similar to the shark of Earth; haunts the plankton banks to feed on parsit fish; one type is the blue grunt, small, voracious, carnivorous freshwater fish, related to the Thassa grunt.. like its larger cousin, it is attracted by blood~~

QUOTE: "Before each guest there were tiny slices of tospit and larma, small pastries, and in a tiny golden cup, with a small golden spoon, the clustered, black, tiny eggs of the white grunt." Fighting Slave of Gor pages 275-6

"Three other men of the Forkbeard attended to fishing, two with a net, sweeping it along the side of the serpent, for parsit fish, and the third, near the stem, with a hook and line, baited with vulo liver, for the white-bellied grunt, a large game fish which haunts the plankton banks to feed on parsit fish." Marauders of Gor page 59

Lelt~~small (5-7") blind fish with fernlike filaments at either side of the head which are its sensory organs; white, with long fins; found in the brine pits at Klima~~

QUOTE: "The lelt is commonly five to seven inches in length. It is white and long-finned . . . Lelts are often attracted to the salt rafts, largely by the vibrations in the water picked up by their abnormally developed lateral-line protrusions, and their fernlike cranial vibration receptors, from the cones and poles. Too, though they are blind, I think either the light, or the heat, perhaps, from our lamps, draws them. They tiny eyeless heads will thrust from the water, and the fernlike filaments at the side of the head will open and lift, orienting themselves to one or the other of the lamps." Tribesmen of Gor page 247.

"It swims slowly and smoothly, its fins moving the water very little..." Tribesmen of Gor page 247

Marsh Moccasin~~narrow, dark, 5' long (approx) poisonous; not common~~

QUOTE: "We saw a narrow, dark shape, about five feet long, like a slowly undulating whip, glide past. A small triangular head was almost level with the water surface. I did not think there had been much danger, but there was some possibility that the movements of her legs in the water might have attracted its attention. 'That is a marsh moccasin,' I said. 'Are they poisonous,' she asked. 'Yes,' I said. 'I never saw one before,' she said. 'They are not common,' I said. 'even in the delta.'" Vagabonds of Gor page 267

Marsh Turtle

QUOTE: "...turning as it made a swift strike, probably a Vosk carp or marsh turtle." Raiders of Gor page 1

Parsit fish~~silvery fish having brown stripes; dwells in the Northern waters; staple of Torvaldslanders; used raw in the gruel of bond maids or salted and dried for trade~~

QUOTE: "The men with the net drew it up. In it, twisting and flopping, silverish, striped with brown, squirmed more than a stone of parsit fish. They threw the net to the planking and, with knives, began to slice the heads and tails from the fish." Marauders of Gor page 61.

"The main business of Kassau is trade, lumber and fishing. The slender striped parsit fish has vast plankton banks north of the town, and may there, particularly in the spring and the fall, be taken in great numbers." Marauders of Gor page 27

"The men who had fished with the net had now cleaned the catch of parsit fish, and chopped the cleaned, boned, silverish bodies into pieces, a quarter inch in width. Another of the bond-maids was then freed to mix the bond-maid gruel, mixing fresh water with Sa-Tarna meal, and then stirring in the raw fish." Marauders of Gor page 63-4

"The men of Torvoldsland are skilled with their hands. Trade to the south, of course is largely in furs acquired from Torvoldsland, and in barrels of smoked, dried parsit fish." Marauders of Gor page 28

Salamanders~~white, blind reptile; inhabits the brine pits of the Tahari salt mines~~

QUOTE: "Among the lelts, too, were, here and there, tiny salamanders, they, too, white and blind. Like the lelts, they were, for their size, long-bodied, were capable of long periods of dormancy and possessed a slow metabolism, useful in an environment in which food is not plentiful. Unlike the lelts, they had long stem-like legs...but the filaments, in the case of the salamanders, interestingly, are not vibration receptors, but feather gills, an external gill system." Tribesmen of Gor pages 247-8.

Salt Leeches~~located in the Delta of the Vosk~~

QUOTE: "I flicked a salt leach from the side of my light rush craft with the corner of the tem-wood paddle." Raiders of Gor page 5

Shark~~the marshes' sharks are nine gilled, eel-like, long and narrow; river sharks are arrow, black, vicious, carnivorous fish with a triangular dorsal fin; brine pits of the salt mines' sharks are white, blind, and nine-gilled, long-bodied (12' or more) carnivorous fish having gills situated under the jaw, several rows of triangular teeth, a sickle-like tail, and a sail-like dorsal fin; inhabits brine pits such as those of the Tahari; northern waters of Thassa shark is white~~

QUOTE: "Beyond them would be the almost eel-like, long-bodied, nine-gilled Gorean marsh sharks." Raiders of Gor page 58.

"I saw the flesh of a triangular, black dorsal fin. I screamed. Lanao looked out, pointing after it. A river shar, she cried, excitedly." Captive of Gor page 79.

"We saw the broad, blunt head, eyeless, white . . . On the whitish back, near the high dorsal fin, there was a long scar. Part of the dorsal fin itself was rent, and scarred. At the top of the food chain in the pits, a descendant, dark-adapted, of the terrors of the ancient seas, stood the long-bodied, nine-gilled salt shark." Tribesman of Gor page 240.

"A recalcitrant girl may be kept on the oar for hours. There is also, however some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl from the oar." Marauders of Gor page 66.

Vosk Sorp~~giant clam; thrives in the seas and Marshes of Gor...the shell of which is large enough to be used as a throne~~

QUOTE: "Ho-Hak looked at the man who wore the headband of pearls of the Vosk sorp." Raiders of Gor page 21.

"He sat upon a giant shell of the Vosk sorp, as on a sort of throne, which for these people, I gather it was." Raiders of Gor page 14

"Her hair was blond and straight, tied behind her with a ribbon of red wool, from the bounding Hurt, dyed in the blood of the Vosk sorp." Marauders of Gor pages 1-2.

Vosk Gull

QUOTE:" 'Those are Vosk gulls,' said Kamchak, 'In the spring, when the ice breaks in the Vosk, they fly north.' " Nomads of Gor page 137

Whales~~three types - hunjer whale, black, cylindrical, toothed whale, Beasts of Gor pages 258-259; karl whale, 4 fluked, baleen whale, Beasts of Gor page 36; baleen whale, bluish, white spotted, blunt fin, Beasts of Gor page 265

QUOTE: "Suddenly, not more than a dozen feet from the boat, driving upward, rearing vertically, surging, expelling, air in the great burst of noise, shedding icy water, in a tangle of lines and blood, burst the towering, cylindrical tonnage of the black Hunjer whale." Beasts of Gor pages 258-9

"Sometimes even the toothed Hunjer whale or the common Karl whale, which was a four-fluked, baleen whale." Beasts of Gor page 36

"Two weeks ago, some ten or fifteen sleeps ago, by rare fortune, we had managed to harpoon a baleen whale, a bluish, white-spotted blunt fin." Beasts of Gor page 265

Wingfish~~tiny blue salt-water fish with 4 poisonous spines on its dorsal fin; found in the waters off Port Kar; its liver is considered a delicacy in Turia.

QUOTE: " 'Now this,' Saphrar the merchant was telling me, 'is the braised liver of the blue, four-spired Cosian wingfish.' This fish is a tiny, delicate fish, blue, about the size of a tarn disk when curled in one's hand; it has three or four slender spines in its dorsal fin, which are poisonous; it is capable of hurling itself from the water and, for brief distances, on its stiff pectoral fins, gliding through the air, usually to evade the smaller sea-thalarions, which seem to be immune to the poison of the spines. This fish is also some times referred to as songfish because, as a portion of its courtship rituals, the males and females thrust their heads from the water and utter a sort of whistling sound. The blue, four-spined wingfish is found only in the waters of Cos. Larger varieties are found farther out to sea. The small blue fish is regarded as a great delicacy, and its livers as the delicacy of delicacies." Nomads of Gor pages 84-5.

"...I heard the mating whistles of the tiny, lovely Cosian wingfish. This is a small, delicate fish; it has three of four slender spines in its dorsal fins, which are poisonous. It is called the wingfish because it can, on its stiff pectoral fins, for short distances, glide through the air, usually in an attempt to flee small sea thalarion, who are immune to the poisonous spines. It is also called a songfish, because, in their courtship rituals, males and females thrust their head from the water, uttering a kind of whistle." Raiders of Gor page 139



This page was last modified on the 31st of January 2002