“ Rich Romans raised fish in private pools at their villas. A favorite fish was lamprey, a parasitic fish which sucks off blood and flesh but made an excellent meal. A particuarly gruesome punishment for slaves was to be thrown into the lamprey pool, where their flesh was ripped from the bone by swarms of the jawless fish.”
“ If thrown into a moat or a ditch, they react with water to make an area of ground a foot wide and solid enough to walk on rise from the bottom. If eaten-well, the body of the one who ate one of them is a real mess. Used to storm moats and forge rivers, streams and ditches. Must be kept dry until used.”