Hexdarter

The hexdarter split from its ancestor, the mason hexspourous. The continuation of the Oathinian Explosion, along with two and a half million years of evolution has markedly changed the appearance of the darter. Coming from the same group of hexspourouses as the hexdigger, it too has inherted the gene that causes it to express quadralateral symmetry. Originally feeding exclusively on the gildbowl decedents that would become the maer, competition from the hexskimmer has forced it to take on the role of predator, hunting the polar sea and the estuaries that dot its coastline for skimmers and feeders, although it still consumes maer when no prey is around. Another trait shared with the hexdigger, its hard feeding appendages, line its mouth in two rows.

These help it chew the leathery flesh of its prey, as well as giving it the ability to rip off part of it's preys body. Unlike the atrophied senses of the hexdigger, the sensitivity of the hexdarter to changes in its environment have changed greatly. Modified touch-sensors allow it to sense the electrical activity that marks its prey from close buy, as well as numerous more normal touch-sensors which allow the hexdarter to form a rudimentary map of its surroundings, with the hexfeeder and the hexskimmer both causing distinctive movements of the water. To help it speed through the sea, it propels itself using its four breathing holes, steering with its small fins. It will allow its young to incubate inside of the mother for a short period of time, then inject them into the carcass of another fauna, which they will use for food until the are large enough to hunt their own prey.