Tusked Uksip

The tusked uksip split from it’s ancestor the corkscrew uksip and adapted solely to the icy cold waters of the South Tundra Lakes. Now like some of it’s early ancestors it lives only in the waters and has no need to get out of the water to breath air. Instead it breathes mainly through its skin as well as through the little hatches in its filter-tusks. It can still rotate the filter-tusk like it’s ancestor though the muscles are weaker and cannot drill through ice and are mainly used for better water rotation that supplies it with more microscopic food and air filtration. They have maintained the brood-burrow lifestyle but upgraded it for their new needs. Now at night the females stay in the brood burrow where they cluster together warming the young and the eggs while the males go filter-feeding. At day time the males return to the burrows to sleep and to protect the eggs while the females take the young ones to filter-feed. Now fully adapted to lake waters they evolved special glands in their armpits that are used to release urine. They rarely release solid waste anymore.