Scuttler

Splitting from its ancestor, the scuttler has lost its ability to swim in exchange for walking. Its tentacles have developed similar joints as its fins, giving it a total of six flexible limbs that are protected by a thing exoskeleton-like covering. Breeding fast and producing large numbers of young, the scuttlers have come to be a common sight wherever they live, swarming over and under every available surface. While they will typically subsist themselves on detritus, they will also go after carcasses of dead organisms. Starting life in the plankton, larval scuttlers, which resemble miniature jointed swarmers, are able to weakly swim for a few weeks before eventually settling down on the sea floor. They will quickly take on their adult form and then reach sexual maturity within a month. They breed several times a year, producing thick clouds of young that will quickly rejoin the plankton. The scuttlers can live to be two years old.