Every fish carries genes
Each fish has three hidden genes: a small colour shift that makes it look slightly different from its siblings, a possible bloodline, and a generation number. Generation is easy: a newly dropped or spawned fish is generation 1, and a merged fish is one generation higher than the older of its two parents. A Leviathan built entirely from Fry is generation 10, which is exactly what the Ten Generations achievement asks for.
Bloodlines are the reef's jackpots. There are five, and a fish with one looks different, glows in the bloodline's colour, earns double idle pearls and pays a prize the moment it is born.
The five bloodlines
| Bloodline | Look | Share of random rolls | Base prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden | Recoloured in warm gold from nose to tail, gold glow | 30% | 320 |
| Albino | Washed out to pale white, with a red eye | 22% | 110 |
| Abyssal | Darker and deeper colours, cold blue glow | 20% | 140 |
| Aurora | Colours that keep shifting, violet glow | 16% | 180 |
| Crystal | Pale and bright, pale aqua glow | 12% | 230 |
"Share of random rolls" is which bloodline you get when a random one is picked. Golden pays the most and is also the most common pick; Crystal is the rarest.
What a bloodline pays
The prize grows by 40% of the base for every step up the ladder, and it is paid whenever a bloodline fish is born from a merge or hatches from an egg. On a merge you also get the merge payout tripled.
| Bloodline | Neon Tetra | Pufferfish | Anglerfish | Leviathan | Cosmic Whale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden | 448 | 832 | 1,216 | 1,472 | 1,600 |
| Crystal | 322 | 598 | 874 | 1,058 | 1,150 |
| Aurora | 252 | 468 | 684 | 828 | 900 |
| Abyssal | 196 | 364 | 532 | 644 | 700 |
| Albino | 154 | 286 | 418 | 506 | 550 |
For scale, a plain Leviathan merge pays 110. A Golden Leviathan merge pays 330 for the merge plus 1,472 prize: more than sixteen times as much.
How bloodlines are inherited
When two fish merge, the child's bloodline is decided by its parents:
- Both parents share a bloodline: 70% the child keeps it. Otherwise the child is plain.
- One parent has a bloodline (or the two have different ones): 35% the child inherits one of them. Otherwise plain.
- Neither parent has one: 5% the child mutates into a random bloodline. During a Mutation Surge this is 15%.
Two details follow from this. First, a failed inheritance never rolls a fresh mutation, so a Mutation Surge does nothing for parents that already carry a bloodline; it only helps plain pairs. Second, a bloodline that fails once is gone from that line. Keeping a pure line going means pairing two bloodline fish at every step, and each of those merges keeps the bloodline only 70% of the time, so long pure lines are rare and worth protecting.
Fish that are not bred, meaning dropped fish, free Fry and plain egg hatches, have a 1.2% chance to be born with a random bloodline. That is the only way to get a bloodline Fry. A fish knocked down a species by the Spikefish comes back with fresh genes, so it loses any bloodline it had.
The Reef Shop
The shop pauses the reef while it is open. Prices are in pearls.
| Item | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Reef Egg | 2,500 | A Clownfish, Angelfish or Pufferfish, equally likely. 10 second cooldown. |
| Abyssal Egg | 5,000 | A Pufferfish (80%) or Lionfish (20%), with about a 51% chance of a bloodline. 15 second cooldown, separate from the Reef Egg's. |
| Bigger Reef | 400 rising to 150,000 | +2 tank capacity per level, nine levels. |
| Mutation Surge | 3,000 or a video | Triples the chance of a fresh mutation for 5 minutes. |
Eggs need a free slot in the tank. A bought egg sinks with a trail of bubbles, cracks open on the sea floor and the fish rises out on the front layer. If it hatches with a bloodline, its prize is paid on the spot. Egg cooldowns run on the real clock, so they keep counting while the shop is open.
| Bigger Reef level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 400 | 2,500 | 7,500 | 15,000 | 25,000 | 50,000 | 75,000 | 110,000 | 150,000 |
| Tank size | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 |
Bigger Reef levels belong to the current reef. Starting a new reef sets the tank back to 14.
Pearl Rush
The Pearl Rush button sits in the bottom bar rather than the shop. It doubles idle pearl income for 2 minutes. Both boosts can be claimed with a video where one is offered; when no video is available the game takes the pearl price instead (2,000 for Pearl Rush, 3,000 for Mutation Surge) if you can afford it. Neither boost stacks with itself while active.
The Abyssal Codex
The Codex is a grid of 66 entries: each of the 11 species in its natural form and in each of the five bloodlines. An entry unlocks the first time a fish of that species and bloodline appears in your reef by any route, and a banner announces every new bloodline find. The Codex is never reset.
Some entries are much harder than others. Bloodline Fry can only come from the 1.2% birth chance, and Cosmic Whale entries need two Leviathans of the right line.
Achievements
There are 22 achievements, all lifetime, and they survive every new reef. Your rank climbs at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% unlocked, from Reef Initiate to Master of the Deep.
| Achievement | How to unlock |
|---|---|
| First Evolution | Merge two fish |
| Reef Alchemist | 100 merges |
| Strange Genes | Breed your first bloodline fish |
| Bloodline Keeper | Breed 10 bloodline fish |
| Ten Generations | Reach generation 10 |
| King of the Reef | Discover the Lionfish |
| The Leviathan | Discover the Leviathan |
| Guardian of the Deep | Win by raising a Leviathan |
| Cosmic Ascension | Summon the Cosmic Whale |
| Full Spectrum | All 11 species in one reef |
| Field Notes, Deep Scholar, Caught Them All | 10, 33 and all 66 Codex entries |
| Pearl Baron | Earn 25,000 pearls lifetime |
| Thriving Reef | Fill the tank to capacity |
| Spike Hunter | Net 5 Spikefish |
| Naturalist | Every species in its natural form |
| Golden, Albino, Abyssal, Aurora and Crystal Collector | Every species in that bloodline |