Whorlhunter

Whorlhunters have split from their ventrapper ancestors and have left the enclose environmental ecosystem of the Rhodix Vents, moving on to the abyssal floor of the LadyM Ocean. They now feed on the numerous whorl species which are the most populous group in the area, allowing their species to easily thrive, even in the vastness and emptiness of the area.

They have not grown significantly larger than their ancestors themselves were, as it is not necessary to be all that larger to feed upon the tiny whorl groups, especially since most of a whorl's form is simply their tail and arms. The three types of whorl are different enough to require different feeding techniques, and their jaws have formed a beak-like shape in order to deal with picking parasite whorls out of the exoskeletal structure of the echofins. Both typical whorls and whorl needlers are easier to feed upon and so the beak-like jaws suffice for these species, too.

They are generally solitary due to the relative emptiness of the abyssal floor of Sagan IV and only congregate together during the mating season. They are not particularly territorial towards one another, instead they will generally just avoid one another in a pacifist style. During the mating season, large swarms form and swirl around one another. "Mating Season" is a bit of a misnomer, as they are an asexual species like their ancestors. Instead, they aid each other in reproduction by using one another's arms to spread their spores on each other, typically near the back of their body as most of their arms are now developed more for swimming than for anything else, preventing them from being able to reach much of their own bodies easily. Like other members of the pompilicauda genus, they have developed a set of eyespots, allowing them to see bioluminescence, which in their species is used both to seek or avoid one another as well as to locate swarmers in an attempt to locate whorl needlers to consume.

Because of the fact that whorlhunters clean the parasitic whorls from echofins, the echofins will actively seek them out every once in a while. This is a more difficult procedure during the months where whorlhunters act solitary, but during the mating period when they swarm together, echofins congregate upon them to be cleaned. The swarmers do not since they generally are killed during predation by whorl needlers instead of being parasitized upon.