Solution to Fish Hybridization
This is a puzzle about Animal Crossing: New Horizons, specifically the “capture quotes” (there isn’t an official name for them) that the player character says when they catch a fish, which are specific to the fish species. This is clued by the title and flavortext, which includes “hybridization” a.k.a. “crossing” of “fish”, which are a kind of animal, and “2020” to specify the version.
Each clue references the capture quotes of two fish, which have the same number of letters. Overlap the two fish names and take the matching letter to extract the answer, SEA BREAM, another kind of fish (albeit not one in Animal Crossing).
This fish has the highest quantity of elements like lead and mercury, which means people who catch it tend to blame somebody else. | “I caught a black bass! The most metal of all fish!” | BLACKBASS |
“I caught an angelfish! That other fish told me to do it!” | ANGELFISH | |
It is generally recommended that catchers wear a suitable kind of protective liquid when catching this fish, which is an ideal addition to dessert. | “I caught an ocean sunfish! Good thing I'm wearing ocean sunscreen!” | OCEANSUNFISH |
“I caught a cherry salmon! It's the perfect topper for a marlin sundae!” | CHERRYSALMON | |
This fish requires significant room to transport, which means people usually try to catch at least two and transport them together. | “I caught a dace! Hope I have some space!” | DACE |
“I caught a carp! If I catch another, they can carpool!” | CARP | |
People who catch this fish say that it symbolizes having opinions that are worthy of consideration and being pretty good at anger management. | “I caught a blue marlin! Listen to this fish. it's got a point.” | BLUEMARLIN |
“I caught a bitterling! It's mad at me, but only a little.” | BITTERLING | |
People are often inspired to want to catch additional fish after this one, but with the caveat that none of them should be the same species. | “I caught an oarfish! I hope I catch morefish!” | OARFISH |
“I caught a piranha! Sure hope it was the only one!” | PIRANHA | |
No matter which of the terrestrial, aerial, and aquatic forms of this fish you catch, you should always be wary of its mouth. | “I caught a zebra turkeyfish! Land, air, water--make up your mind!” | ZEBRATURKEYFISH |
“I caught a great white shark! Watch out for its jaws!” | GREATWHITESHARK | |
Reactions to catching this fish tend to emulate pirates and Barack Obama in a famous meme. | “I caught a gar! Yar! It's a gar! Har har!” | GAR |
“I caught a dab! Not bad!” | DAB | |
Catching this fish tends to produce emotions of strong affection, but also, it's worth repeating, selfish possessiveness. | “I caught a moray eel! When you're in love, that's a moray!” | MORAYEEL |
“I caught a mahi-mahi! It's all mahine-mahine.” | MAHIMAHI |