Blueback Scylarian

Splitting from its ancestor, the blueback scylarian has doubled in size and become the dominant predator of the LadyM ocean. Armed with a mouthful of inch-long teeth and a powerful bite, these apex predators can take down most prey with a single bite. They have evolved boney plating along their back that protects their spines not only from other predators, but from each other, especially during the mating season which happens during the yearly migration of the massive strainerbeak schools. Males have developed a "horn" that contains sensory cells that are highly sensitive to the pheromones produced by female blueback scylarians. Once they pick up a scent, they can follow it for miles. Typically a loner, an adult blueback scylarians fears only others of its own kind. Young ones, however, must avoid the various other scylarians and seaswimmer species that inhabit the LadyM ocean. They tend to take shelter beneath the various species of colonialballs, using them for shelter as well as hunting smaller prey that take up residence there. After six to seven years they will abandon it for the open water, and then within another half dozen they will reach sexual maturity. The mating process can be quite violent, especially for the females who bear many scars from these events. The resulting offspring while be born several months later, during the return trip of the strainerbeaks in order to give them a good source of food.