Riparian Scorpodile

The Riparian Scorpodile Split from its ancestor and is the result of marsh scorpodiles migrating into Maineiac Temperate River. In order to avoid competition with their distant ancestor, the scorpodile, they now lurk near the shore. They will wait patiently near the riverbank, waiting for unsuspecting prey to take a drink or just walk too close to the riverbank, and then they lunge at them and stab them with the sharp spikes on the end of their forelimbs. Their eyes have grown considerably in order to spot prey and predators with greater ease. Also, it has lost its ancestor's sensory hairs since it no longer lives in murky water. The spikes on its forelimbs can move slightly. Later generations of this creature can use these spikes as both impaling weapons and pinchers. However, the pincher-spikes aren't very effective at grabbing food and moving it to its mouth. The rest of the spikes have atrophied because they aren't used anymore. Its walking legs have grown larger and its pectoral fins have moved off of the head and onto its sides; and are used for both walking and swimming. Its tail fin has now evolved into a telson that has a flat, somewhat sharp spike on the end. It is mainly used for propulsion though. The fins on its pectoral fins have shrunk in order to make walking easier. Its gills are now covered by chiton with slits that can open and close. The slits are closed with the help of a membrane that can be extended and retracted. Between the gills and the chiton layer is a chamber that holds water. This keeps its gills from drying out and thus, it can survive on land indefinitely. It spends about half of its time on land and half of its time in the water. They will occasionally hunt on land, as their camouflage makes them hard to spot. They will hunt prey the same way as they would in the water, patiently lying in wait for something to come too close, then suddenly lunging and stabbing their prey when it gets too close. When there isn't enough live prey to go around, they will resort to scavenging. It lays its eggs in shallow water. The young are strictly aquatic and actively feed on various small global genus species. Once they grow to 1 m long, they switch to being ambush predators.