Hoverthorn Creature Guide and Details | Subnautica 2

A passive fish that is edible and can be caught and cooked into food.

They also have a black variant found in Root Canyon.

Monopter astrapakantha, the one-finned lightning thorn. A small fish that has discarded fins in favor of a living magnetohydrodynamic thruster.

[1] Monopter
Fish are a common body plan across alien worlds, but they usually evolve fins or wings for propulsion. The hoverthorn has just a single fin - a tail rudder at the base of the spinal braid. Spiracles behind the double eyes draw water for an internal gill.

[2] Doubled eye
The hoverthorn's large primary eye is duplicated by a small secondary eye which contains columns of electro-active jelly. The hoverthorn can effectively see electromagnetic fields. The second eye was created by a duplication in the hoverthorn's HOLOX genes, which organize the thorn's body plan. A viral gene sequence copying itself through the hoverthorn's genome apparently copy-pasted the eye 'blueprint' several million years ago.

[3] Hoverthorn
The hoverthorn's most incredible trait is its charge crystal, a mineralized swim bladder which fills the lower body cavity and protrudes from what was once a thruster orifice. A mineral Campbell matrix in the crystal organizes electric charge. When a portion of the crystal is charged, it polarizes and attracts surrounding seawater. Moving the charge along the crystal creates currents in the seawater - allowing the hoverthorn to generate and ride its own currents.

[4] Mating behavior
Hoverthorns joust with their charge crystals, approaching each other tail-first. As the crystals approach, their fields interact, and the weaker or less skilled hoverthorn will lose control. Both male and female hoverfish use this to either drive away or select fit mates.

Assessment: fascinating.

Hoverthorn is a required ingredient to craft these items at the Fabricator:

Item	Recipe
Hoverthorn Souvlaki	Hoverthorn x 3 Salt x 1
Cooked Hoverthorn	Hoverthorn x 1

Remember to use the Bioscanner on this creature to unlock a Biomod!

Biomod	Effect
Threat Sense	Detect nearby threats with specialized hair cells.