Caranx
You start as a thumb-length trevally and eat everything well under your own number, until the reef has to make room for you.
A side-view reef where mass is the only law. Everything well under your own number is a mouthful, every hunter bigger than you has teeth, and each meal grows you toward the next tier. Chain bites to build the frenzy meter, dash from what wants you, and climb from fry to the giant trevally the reef is named after. One run carries the whole arc in a few minutes. The daily is the same reef on the day's seed, three minutes on the clock, one attempt.
- Category
- Arcade
- Modes
- Solo · Daily
- Controls
- Mouse · Touch · Keyboard
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How to play
Drag anywhere to swim: the fish follows your thumb, harder pushes go faster. Every fish wears its size, and so do you: eat anything with a cyan ring, which is anything well under your own number. A hunter that can bite you glows red once it has seen you, and the edge arrow points at one closing in from off screen. Tap the sprint button or press Space to burst away or strike a meal. Quick bites in a row fill the frenzy bar at the top and multiply every meal. A body that does not eat shrinks, so keep moving. Tier up and yesterday's hunter is today's lunch.
What is Caranx?
Caranx is a free browser game about the oldest rule on a coral reef: the bigger mouth wins. You play a trevally, the reef's most famous ambush hunter, and you start out no longer than a thumb. Everything smaller than you is food. Every hunter bigger than you has teeth. Each meal adds to your body, each tier you climb turns yesterday's predator into today's lunch, and one run carries the whole arc from fry to giant in a few minutes. The name is the real one: Caranx is the genus of the jacks and trevallies, and the giant trevally is the fish you become.
How to play
- Phone: drag anywhere on the screen. The fish follows your thumb, and a harder push swims faster. Tap the dash button, or push past the outer ring, to burst.
- Desktop: the fish swims toward the mouse pointer. Click or press Space to dash. Arrows and WASD steer too.
- Smaller than you: food. Swim into it.
- Your size: neither of you can eat the other. Go around.
- Red glow: a hunter that can bite you has seen you. A red arrow at the edge of the screen shows one closing in from outside the frame.
- Quick bites in a row fill the frenzy bar at the top. Five named stages, up to six times the points per meal, and the bar leaks the moment you stop.
- A body that does not eat shrinks. Camping is never a plan.
- Daily: the same reef for everyone on the day's seed, three minutes on the clock, one attempt. Being swallowed costs weight, not the run.
Strategy tips
- Sweep schools whole. Eating every fish of a school inside one pass pays a bonus and fills the meter in one go. Come in from the side, not from behind.
- Dash at the darters, not at the drifters. Wrasses and mackerel burst away faster than you can cruise, then rest. A dash during the rest is a strike, and a strike pays half again.
- Spend stamina on escapes first. Every hunter is faster than your cruise and slower than your dash. Keep one dash in reserve whenever an amber arc is pointing at you.
- Grow past the thing that chased you. A tier up shoves the neighbourhood back and gives you a safe second. Use it to turn around: the hunter that made you run is usually the biggest meal on screen.
- The deep is on a clock. Once you are the apex, the reef gives you two minutes before something arrives that cannot be outswum. Spend them on the frenzy meter, because the biggest meals under the highest multiplier are where the score is.
FAQ
Is Caranx free?
Yes. Every game on Play is free to play in the browser, with nothing to download or install.
Does the daily reef use the same seed for everyone?
Yes. In daily mode everyone gets the same reef, the same spawns and the same three minutes, so the leaderboard compares play, not luck.
What is a good score?
Reaching tier 4 with the meter at Surge is a solid run. Past 50,000 you have held a high stage on big meals, and a run that becomes the Caranx itself is rare.
Why did I shrink?
A body burns mass just by being alive, and a bigger body burns more. If the reef looks empty, swim: the water ahead is always restocked around you.
