Mortuprey

The mortuprey has split from its ancestor and spread throughout the deep waters of Sagan IV. It was able to do this mainly by feeding on the highly abundant Deep Ribbon Gilltail and other deep sea fauna. It has become black to sneak up on and escape from its prey in the deep sea, losing its photosynthesis in the process. It has lost its bioluminescence to more easily sneak up on prey, it instead detects its prey by vibrations in the water by using microscopic hair-like filaments that cover its body. Due to not using its eyes, it has become blind. It swims in an eel-like way.

Once it finds its prey, it attacks it in a corkscrew-like way. It twists its body while tearing into the victim's flesh using its outward pointing wooden teeth. Small prey is usually swallowed whole or torn to pieces, which the mortuprey swallows one by one. When dealing with large prey, the mortuprey tears a large chunk of flesh out of it before swimming away. Some of the large carnivorous fauna it feeds on, such as the Outtablue Scylarian, could eat it in turn, so it's more cautious around large prey. Being able to eat nearly anything it comes across, the mortuprey has successfully filled the niche of an apex predator almost everywhere in the deep sea. The mortuprey is mostly a solitary predator, only coming together when mating on the seafloor in large groups.