Periwinkle is a fish that can be caught in the ocean during the day in any season. It is one of the fish that can be placed in a Fish Pond, where it will reproduce every day and gradually fill the pond toward a maximum population of 10. Like other pond fish, it can also be used in a few crafting and questing roles beyond being sold or cooked.
In a Fish Pond, Periwinkles start with a capacity of 3 and can be expanded through three quests. The pond requests 5 Clay or 15 Fiber to raise the capacity from 3 to 5, then 10 Bug Meat, 1 Cave Carrot, or 5 Hardwood to raise it from 5 to 7, and finally 1 Field Snack, 5 Solar Essence, or 1 Wild Bait to raise it from 7 to 10. As the population increases, the pond can produce Periwinkle Roe as well as other items. Common outputs include Trash, Green Algae, Driftwood, Broken Glasses, Broken CD, Soggy Newspaper, and, at higher populations, Mixed Seeds or a Warp Totem: Mountains. The pond can also produce nothing on many days, especially at lower populations.
Periwinkle has a few direct uses outside the pond. It can be placed in the spool of the Sewing Machine to create the Rain Coat. It can also be used as a blue dye ingredient at the dye pots in Emily’s and Haley’s house at 2 Willow Lane. In quests, one Periwinkle may be requested by several fish in Fish Pond quests, and five Periwinkle may be requested by the Raccoon as part of the first request or from the sixth request onward.
A few practical notes make it easier to use:
Keeping a Periwinkle pond at high population improves the range of possible outputs, including Roe and more valuable bonus items.
If you want one mainly for profit, pond production can provide a steady trickle of items without needing to recast or rebait anything.
Periwinkle is also useful as a convenient dye item if you are already collecting fish for tailoring or pond management.
It will never sell for more than its usual cap, so turning it into Sashimi before selling is more profitable than selling the raw fish directly.
