Lesser Bloisters

The Lesser Bloisters split from their ancestor the Bloister and greatly diversified in species filling many available niches of short-lived scavengers, Planktivores, and Detritivores on the the ocean floor and in intertidal zones. The the most diversity can be found in neritic zone where sunlight can reach the ocean floor.

Some standard shared traits of this group are having a head segment comprising 15% to 50% of the body length dependent on what their preferred food source is, and six shorter segments following that. A single pair of antennae jut out from their heads roughly from the top center and point back toward their posterior end over their bodies. Six legs with two segments all attaching between the third and fourth body segment, all their legs twist so that their ends to some degree face toward the anterior of the body, and the final pair of legs are roughly half the length of the first two pairs. A single set of manipulating arms attaches to the front of the first segment, the arm is comprised of three mobile segments, with the final segment being a scoop shape. The first segment of the manipulating arm from the body typically provides the majority of the length of this limb with the second segment typically being shortened into nothing more but a pivoting point for their scoop.

This scoop has been altered in length and width depending on its use in the decisive niches of each kind of Little Bloister. Those that collect sand to sift for debris have wide scoops, others have longer stronger scoops that are more dagger-like for dividing up and tearing into dead bodies, and even some have vestigial scoops and rely on lifestyles of sifting open waters. Accompanying these scoops in all species are sifting feather-like structures, much like their ancestral bloister, which again like the scoop has been changed to match necessary uses in their various ways of survival. Large fan like structures for sifting open water, stouter tougher forms for pairing with the scoops in sifting sand, vestigial forms in order to stay out of the way of scoops meant for more direct brute force interactions with their food.

Their colors vary wildly depending on where the various members can be found. Those living in open films will match color of the sands that they're walking on, burying into the sand when in danger. Others will live on the rocks and slip underneath, replicating the colors of the small rocks around them. And still there are those that live on flora or near them and match their coloration climbing up among fronds and blending in to hide from predators.