Buoyskin

The buoyskin split from its ancestor, following the marine woollycoat into the aquatic biomes surrounding Krakow; it supplements its diet with some of the larger aquatic species in the area as well. It has grown in size to assist in taking out its prey. Due to the air-filled bubble-scales covering their bodies, aquatic life was a rather easy transfer for the bubbleskins, the air pockets providing both insulation and some level of buoyancy. Their bodies are more streamlined to help with swimming, which they accomplish by coordinating left-right kicks with their broad feet, using their tail as a rudder (which they sometimes shake in conjunction with their feet to get a slight boost). They now have splotches of brown, deep blue, and dark gold on their bodies for extra camouflage. They tend to use their color vision (front eyes) less often underwater, preferring infrared (top pair) or electrosensory (bottom pair). Buoyskins hunt either alone or in groups of 2-4, communicating their attacks using high-frequency chirps underwater. To kill prey they either grab it with their mouth when its above or spear it with their arm-spikes when its underneath; their arm spikes have become slightly serrated to help in cutting up killed prey, though they tend to withhold this function while underwater as it risks the foe loosing blood (their preferred meal) into the water. Their ancestor's history of hunting plents a has translated in a hunting method of ambushing from behind and underneath the target, preferring to grab and drag under the waves than to cut or puncture. They carry prey to shore in their mouths to feed; their ancestors pouch became impractical for carrying young underwater, and instead is sometimes used to carry an extra kill (or multiple small kills). Individuals live for 10 years. Their reproductive behavior has also changed. Males mature twice as fast as females and once fully grown, will go off and claim a stretch of beach (about 8 kilometers across) as its territory, usually in the vicinity of a woollycoat colony. He will then take a couple kills a month and leave them out on the beach for a female to find; the male needs to be careful to not leave the carcasses out too long or the stench might attract unwanted attention from other predators or its prey. Once a female is discovered he will do a short display of slashing his spikes and jumping. If the female stays they will mate and give birth to 2 chicks (usually a male and a female) every 2 years. The parents take turns looking after them, trading pouch duty every week, allowing their mate time to acquire enough fat from hunting to take over the next shift. The chicks are fed regurgitate blood until they've grown out their teeth, claws and raspy tongue (another 3 months for females, about 1.5 months for males). After which the free adult will teach the grown chicks how to hunt, first small prey and later fully grown woollycoats (about 3 weeks).