Xatashot

The xatashot replaced its ancestor on the beaches of Jlindy. With multiple predators hunting them, the xatashot has developed new defenses. They are sturdier than their ancestor, with their plates covering most of their body; their more stable body plan also helps them wade into the surf with less danger of being tossed over. Their skin color has whitish spots to help blend in with the white sand of the beaches. Their other defense is more dramatic. Instead of just spitting out the pinprong's quills, it stores them in flexible cheek pouches. The upper lip of the xatabound has become almost trunk-like in its descendant; as apposed. When threatened, the xatashot will contract its trunk-lip along its jaw spike to form a tube similar to a gun barrel and work individual pinprong quills into the tube. By contracting muscles and blowing air through the tube, the quills are shot out like bullets at the offender; the general rate of this shot is one quill per second and the quills can reach an effective distance of about three meters. The pinprong's quills can bury into flesh with their harpoon-like micro spines, causing debilitating wounds if not immediately removed.