Rockshorian

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Rockshorian
(Lapiscator armis)
Artwork of Rockshorian
Species is extant.
Creator Jarlaxle Other
Taxonomy
Domain
Kingdom
Subkingdom
Phylum
Subphylum
Superclass
Class
Clade
Subclass
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Eukaryota
Binucleozoa
Symbiovermes
Thoracocephalia
Vermitheria
Cephalischia
Dromeodonta
Eudromeodonta
Neodromeodonta
Apatodromeodonta
Lapiscatoridae
Lapiscator
Lapiscator armis
Week/Generation 26/165
Habitat BigL Tropical Beach, Jlindy Tropical Beach, Clarke Temperate Beach, Dass Temperate Beach, Wind Temperate Beach
Size 120cm Long
Primary Mobility Unknown
Support Endoskeleton (Chitin)
Diet Carnivore (Camouflage Foi, Clarke Cleaner Echofin, Common Oceanscooter, Scuttleball Gillfin, Diamond Pumpgill, Dixon Finback, Dunki, Finback, Floating Pumpgill, Follower Gilltail, Gillarill, Grabbyswarmers, Gulperpump, Krillpedes, Left-Right Scalucker, Luminus, Miniswarmers, Nerius, Padlers, Raq Urpoi, Ray Flat Swarmer, Rojerius, Royal Scylarian, Seafin, Seamaster Seaswimmer, Serpungo, Shardscale, South Polar Shardgill, Southern Gillfin, Southern Strainerbeak, Speckled Pumpgill, Strainerbeak, Sucker Swarmer, Swarmerscooter, Twinkiiro Gilltail)
Respiration Active (Microlungs)
Thermoregulation Endotherm (Feathers)
Reproduction Sexual (Male and Female, Eggs)
Standing still by the rocky shore, none would suspect them of being anything but rocks, and in all but the most literal of ways, that impression wouldn't be far off. As steady as the rocks her sauce-shell has adapted to mimic, hiding her flat breathing fan behind a similar rocky tail club, the rockshorian stands still, casting her wide shadow upon the water to attract her prey, feeling for the slightest motion in the water with her long feather-whiskers.

If she was to try and catch her prey, using her echolocation to pinpoint its location, she'd quickly ram her proboscis into the water, its thin profile minimizing the turbulence, its baggy skin expanding to engulf the water and suck in its content. Raising her head, she'd lock her teeth and pout her lips, letting out a stream of water like a fountain. keeping in the larger prey, to be swallowed whole or grounded down against her teeth. But just as often, she might choose not to, because she is not alone. Underneath the sauce-shell she has inherited from her ancestral Roofback offshoots, multiple generations of larva use her shell as a nest. Closest to the warmth of her body, eggs are held in place with Stick mucus and thick plumage. Along the walls growing larva use their claws to hang from the feathery lining. The edges of the shell curve inwards, forming piers, from which the most mature larva will try to catch prey on their own, using an outgrowth of the exoskeleton covering the palm of their claws as an opposable thumb. They need practice, and when they catch prey their siblings will join the feast. At other times she will regurgitate food for them along the piers, as well as use her spit to quench their thirst, as their underdeveloped kidneys are not yet ready to filter out the salt from the saltwater as hers can. There's another way in which she's not alone, she is part of an outcrop, a group of 6-12 rockshorian females and their young. If one of her outcrop sisters hears something suspicious, she'll perk up her long ears, using her long neck she'll raise her proboscis above her shell to scout around without moving the rest of her body, sniffing around and using her echolocation to detect the potential danger. If the circumstances call for it, a warning hum from the scouting sister will send them on the run. While it might seem strenuous after standing still for so long, they will be well-rested. a series of long flexor tendons extend between the bones, letting them stand motionless for hours with minimal effort, not unlikely a bird on a wire, from a song of another time and place. At other times they will stand their ground. The sauce shell is grown layer by layer from the inside out, with tiny air gaps in between the layers. Providing a redundancy of protective armor, any survivable damage on its exterior will only add to the cracks and erosion and aid in the mimicry. The tail club in contrast is denser, able to not only take punishment but provide it. Coordinating those with a series of low barely audible hums and growls, they are well equipped to defend their territory from most threats like a well-trained phalanx. If they are lucky, the intrusion might not be a cause for flight or fight. They might smell the musk of a virile bull, sense the echos of his battle-scarred but overall sturdier armor and his longer tail. A survivor since getting expelled from his outcrop during puberty, he would have faced many dangers, predators & tail bashing battles with other males. If they like what they sense and their emotive humming reaches a consensus, they will jump on the opportunity to increase the genetic diversity and overcome the problems of a settled lifestyle across a linear coastal territory, mating sideways through a tentacle-like extension of the male's cloaca. The male will then continue on his journey, or choose to go back and forth across a coastal territory if he doesn't think he can advance further. Each female will use her long neck to reach her cloaca and lay hard eggs directly into her mouth, using her flexible lips and sticky mucus to pick the egg from the cloaca and stick it in its place along her shell.