Lancertongue

Splitting from it's ancestor the lancertongue (also known as the "visored lance") has evolved its traits to help it survive in more places. It has adapted new lifestyles, offensive adaptations, and defensive adaptations. Like its ancestor, the lancertongue is an opportunistic predator in attacking the young and the weak as well as a scavenger of the deep. However, unlike its ancestor, it can often be found clinging to larger creatures as a parasite. It is able to do due to several adaptations. The lancertongue must upside down in order to latch onto its prey, allowing minimal interference from its upper jaw and tail 'fin'. They also have much more developed photosensitive gland/organ that allows them increased vision in the depths as well as in the sunlit waters. Since the barb on its tongue is now detachable rather than the whole tongue, the muscles the tongue uses for holding piercing, pulling, and holding are much stronger. This has the added benefit of decreasing regeneration time as it only needs to replace the barb. On top of that, the barb tip is coated with nematocyst cells that act as a numb and paralyzing agent on larger fauna and helps it to kill smaller ones before bringing them to the the nematocyst cluster in its mouth. The lower jaw is now largely immobile except for the the muscled 'fin-like' cartilage protrusions that act as rudimentary fins. This, as well as the increased flexibility and size of its tail, allow for better maneuverability. The near-immobility of the lower jaw despite the retention and increase of size is because the lower jaw is where all the many powerful muscles needed to use its 'tongue' are located. The upper jaw can open wide, has strong downward force for biting, and houses the nematocyst cluster that paralyzes and kills it's prey. The increased size of the internal echo-glands allow for even greater communication and coordination between individuals, as well as aiding in finding prey. This allows lancertongues to hunt in small family packs called phalanges (plural; phalanx is the singular form). A phalanx can have as many as 6 individuals, though most tend to have 3-4 individuals. They will, however, separate when a parasite if there are too many (more than 3) living on a single host organism. Another change is in their mating habits. Mature lancertongues don't always couple to copulate, while this does still occur it is infrequent and only when there are few mature lancertongues around. Instead, they congregate in large swarms near reefs or the ocean floor in order to release both 'male' and 'female' genetic material in large clouds. This increases the chance of successful fertilization, and survival of their young. Genetic material from the same individual can not fertilize itself, however.