Solaster

The solaster split from their ancestor, the beach shrotter, when several families spent increasing amounts of time swimming, which over many millions of years finally led to an offshoot species. This new species never leaves the water, and with the surrounding ocean supporting their body, they have succeeded in doubling in overall size. Unfortunately, leaving the confines of the beach has caused them to lose their burrow den lifestyles completely, and so now they must live and hunt together in family groups called shivers. With their foreclaws no longer required to dig burrows, they have adapted into sharp tools used to aid in killing crawling snarks. However, they are still used for digging out kingskwid - their main prey item - but since the sediment of the coast is easy to dig through, they can still perform this task with the claws they have now. To aid their hunting of kingskwid, their barbels have lengthened so as to be able to reach the sediment without the body needing to also make contact. Because their full body movements might startle buried prey that they are searching for, these have also become very primitively prehensile, allowing them to curl over at any point along their lengths. These are then used to gently caress the sediment in search of hidden kingskwid that may have gone into hiding when they arrived in the area to feed. With their separation from the land, their hind legs no longer need to serve the use of walking, and they have atrophied somewhat, becoming shorter and now providing steering in a more conventional way. Swimming power is still provided by the tail, which has grown thicker to allow for more powerful strokes. Small bones in their pelvis have also begun to extend both dorsally and ventrally, providing a tail fin with its much-needed support. Mating occurs during late spring, with young being born in early summer. When a pregnant female gives birth, she must roll over onto her back, to allow the newborn pup enough oxygenated time to make its way to its mother's pouch, which it finds by way of pure instinct. A small patch of very sensitive skin lines the pouch, close to its entry slit. This is sensitive enough for the female to feel if her youth has entered the pouch safely, at which point she can finally turn back over and continue to swim and hunt. Pups are occasionally lost when the mother is suddenly startled and flips back over onto her stomach. A mother will not risk her own life for her pups by not flipping over. When the young become too big for the pouch, they join the shiver, and will be supported on their mother's snout and held above the water's surface to breathe and rest when they tire out, as they aren't immediately strong enough to swim so much. Until such a time, the mother will periodically roll onto her back and breach the surface, where she will open the pouch and provide the pup with a fresh amount of oxygen before sealing the pouch with her powerful muscles once more. During the winter months, some solasters can be seen swimming out into the Ladym Open Ocean, where they will hunt flashing filtersquid along with the large schools of gilltail who flock there to mate. Once the gilltail return to their habitats of origins, however, so do the solaster. They are still curious creatures, and will often either playfully swim around non-threatening organisms, or attempt to nibble on smaller creatures to see if they're edible. If not enough meat can be found for their diet, they are not beyond foraging for reefballs. Sexual dimorphism has changed for the solaster: now, while females retain the purple stripes, they do not actually obtain them until they become sexually mature. Each solaster's stripes are unique to the individual.