Stone Skimmers
Tiny flecks of aquatic life that scatter from footfalls like shattered beads, skittering along riverstones in the shallows of riverbanks. They feed on algae clinging to wet stone, harmless and ever-present in healthy waterways. Their numbers, however, signal something less reassuring: the more Stone Skimmers crowd the rocks, the more certain it is that larger, fouler things lurk in the shallows just beneath.
Key traits
- Extremely small, they move in rapid, scattering bursts across wet riverstones when disturbed, resembling shattered beads in motion.
- Herbivorous algae-feeders that graze on the green scum coating riverstones, posing no threat to larger creatures.
- Entirely harmless individually and in groups, occupying the very lowest tier of the riverbank food chain.
- Their population density serves as an ecological indicator: large numbers of Stone Skimmers reliably signal the presence of larger predators in the waters beneath.