Fisch Drylands Bestiary: Every Fish and How to Catch It

The Drylands is a desert region in Fisch where most of the wildlife hides beneath the sand instead of swimming in open water. Completing its Bestiary means logging 25 entries spread across the dunes, small oases, and rain-fed clay pans. The biggest hurdle is gear rather than luck, because several species will only bite when you fish the sand with the right rod.

Quick answer: Teleport to Fischfest 2 with the Magic Conch, walk behind the Sand Castle to reach the Drylands at GPS (-24497, 2683, -5386), craft the Marrow Rod from Paleontologist Petri, and equip the Sand Sifter to fish the dunes. Use any regular rod for the oasis and flooded clay pan water. Every catch is Summer-only except the Dune Relic.

Fishing the Drylands dunes with the Marrow Rod — Sand fishing in the Drylands with the Marrow Rod.

Complete Drylands fish list with bait, weather, and time

There are 25 fish in the Drylands Bestiary. Matching the listed bait raises your odds but is not strictly required, while any listed time or weather condition must be active for that entry to appear. Every fish shares the Summer season, with the Dune Relic as the only exception.

Fish	Weather	Time	Bait	Avg C$
Calcified Trilobite	Clear	Any	None	31.3
Dryskin Minnow	Clear	Any	Insect	27
Petrified Ammonite	Clear	Any	None	35.4
Sandbar Loach	Clear	Any	Worm	28.8
Cactus-Feeder Barb	Clear	Any	Cacti Pulp	68.8
Bone-Plate Dace	Clear	Any	Insect	76.7
Mirage Fin	Foggy	Night	Insect	75.1
Silt-Crusted Carp	Clear	Any	Worm	80
Shard-Tooth Salmon	Clear	Any	Shrimp	148.5
Marrow Pike	Clear	Any	Fish Head	153.1
Torrential Catfish	Clear	Any	Worm	205.8
Dustveil Ray	Clear	Any	None	207
Duneseat Crustacean	Clear	Any	Cacti Pulp	210.8
Strata-Bound Bass	Clear	Any	Worm	223.1
Prickly Gurnard	Clear	Any	Shrimp	2,239.8
Claypan Guppy	Clear	Any	Bagel	2,312.5
Dune-Stalker Eel	Clear	Night	Shrimp	2,330.3
Ancient Coelacanth	Clear	Any	Fish Head	2,400
Sunder-Whelp Jaw	Clear	Day	Cacti Pulp	4,875
Dune Relic	Any	Any	None	5,000
Sun-Blistered Perch	Clear	Day	Shrimp	5,460
Reservoir Squalus	Clear	Night	Fish Head	5,500
Terrosunder Skull	Clear	Any	Fish Head	5,826.7
Terrosunder	Clear	Day	Cacti Pulp	42,954.5
Photic Terrosunder	Clear	Day	Cacti Pulp	57,500

Where the Drylands is and how to reach it

The Drylands sits next to the Heart of the Island on the Fischfest 2 island, so the fastest route is to teleport there first.

Open your Magic Conch and select Fischfest 2. This drops you near the large Sand Castle at the center of the event area.

Walk toward the Sand Castle, then continue around and behind it. The arid Drylands zone opens up ahead, with sand dunes, small oases, and shallow pools that only fill during rain.

Head to the entry point at GPS (-24497, 2683, -5386). From here you can move between the water spots and the open dunes where the sand-dwelling fish hide.

Sand fishing: Marrow Rod and Sand Sifter requirement

Water catches in the Drylands work with any regular rod. The oases and the rainwater that collects in the clay pans behave like normal fishing spots, so no special gear is needed there. The fish buried in the dunes are the real barrier. To pull them out you need Sand Sifting, which requires the Marrow Rod paired with the Sand Sifter bobber, or the Dune enchantment applied to any rod. Note that Invincible does not work while sand fishing.

Find Paleontologist Petri on the Drylands at GPS (-23924, 2696, -6213) and start the questline.

Buy an Unrefined Magnetite Core for 15,000 C$ from the nearby Dunehaven shop and hand it to Petri. This first quest rewards the Sand Sifter bobber and a Mysterious Spine.

Gather the three crafting materials for the rod. You keep the Mysterious Spine, purchase the Mysterious Skull from the same shop for 150,000 C$, and collect the Mysterious Fang from the Analyst Archaeologist on Ancient Isle by choosing the first, third, and second dialogue options in that order.

Take all three parts to the anvil at the Ancient Archives and craft the Marrow Rod using the Mysterious Skull, Mysterious Spine, Mysterious Fang, and 100,000 C$. Once built, equip the Sand Sifter and you can cast into the dunes.

Tip: Sand fishing sometimes turns up ancient fossils instead of a fish. Those feed a separate collection tied to Petri’s storyline and do not count toward the Bestiary.

Weather events that unlock exclusive catches

The Drylands runs its own weather cycle, and two localized events open catches you cannot find otherwise. Check the sky before a farming run so you are not wasting casts.

Event	How it starts	Effect
Dust Storm	Triggered through disturbance; lasts 10 minutes	Grants 2x Luck, blinds the screen, and drains health slowly. Dune Goggles reduce the blindness and Dunehaven Wraps reduce the health loss. The Terrosunder appears here.
Torrential Rain	Small chance during Rain or Stormy weather	Floods the Claypans so they can be fished. Only window for the Dryskin Minnow, Cactus-Feeder Barb, Claypan Guppy, and Sun-Blistered Perch in the Claypans.

Terrosunder Hunt

A Terrosunder Hunt is always active during a Dust Storm. The Terrosunder scuttles across the sand and frequently changes direction. You must meet the Sand Sifting requirement and fish near the moving creature to catch it. Getting too close results in instant death. Catching one ends the Dust Storm early, so plan around a single attempt per storm.

Photic Terrosunder Hunt

The Photic Terrosunder is the Secret-rarity entry and the hardest catch in the region. During a Dust Storm, toss an Awakening Serum into the Sunken Reservoir before the Terrosunder has been caught. The Terrosunder charges into the water and transforms into the Photic Terrosunder, which then hovers above a corner of the reservoir. The whole pool counts as the hunt area, which lasts 5 minutes or ends once the fish is caught. Its progress is locked at -95%, so expect a long grind.

Catches that need specific conditions

Most Drylands fish show up in Clear weather at any time, so only a few entries trip people up. Line these conditions up before you write a catch off as bad luck.

Mirage Fin is the only fish that needs Foggy weather, and it also requires Night. You cannot grind it in Clear conditions.
Dune-Stalker Eel and Reservoir Squalus both require Night, so plan those casts around the day and night clock.
Sun-Blistered Perch and Sunder-Whelp Jaw only appear during the Day.
Dune Relic has no weather, time, or season requirement at all, so it can turn up in any conditions despite its high value.

Best rods for the harder catches

The right rod makes a real difference on entries like the Terrosunder Skull and Photic Terrosunder. The Terrotrapper Rod is the top pick for serious Drylands fishing. Crafted at the Ancient Archives on Ancient Isle and built for this region, it carries 210% Luck, an infinite Max Kg cap, and a passive that adds extra progress every 10 to 20 seconds. If you do not have it yet, any high-Luck rod with a strong Max Kg cap covers most of the list. Prioritize Luck first, since Drylands fish favor it heavily and the jump from 100% to 200% Luck is very noticeable in practice.

Rewards and how to confirm completion

Open the Bestiary with the H key and select the Drylands location page. Completion shows as a percentage under the location, and reaching full completion turns that page’s text yellow. A short jingle plays the first time you open the page after finishing it, which confirms the reward has triggered. Finishing the Drylands Bestiary grants the Small Cactus Bobber, 50,000 C$, and 50,000 XP.

Only fish you reel in yourself count toward the total. Anything received through trading does not add to your percentage, so every entry has to come off your own line. If an entry refuses to appear, the cause is almost always a missed condition rather than luck. Confirm you are using the Marrow Rod with the Sand Sifter for sand species, that the season is Summer, and that any required Night timing or Foggy weather is active before you keep casting.