Parasitic Waterworm

The parasitic waterworm split from its ancestor and shrank to half its size. It now lives a parasitic lifestyle, drinking the blood of saucebacks and the sap of bubbleweed. The beak is tougher and sharper to make cutting into the flesh of its two victims easy, and the front fins and spike now act as a trio of prongs used to hold the worm in its host. Its colouring is to mimic bits of plant floating in the water so as to trick predators. When feeding, the parasitic waterworms head and front end will often be completely imbedded in its host. If living on a sauceback it will aim for the base of the leg, that way scratching or biting it off will be near impossible. The worms prefer the saucebacks as hosts, as the blood is more nutritious than sap, but will settle for bubbleweed with little hesitation. A parasitic waterworm will try to stay with a single host, bubbleweed or sauceback, as long as possible because travelling between hosts is very dangerous. But leaving the host is necessary for breeding and laying eggs. The worms breed in the safety of the mud in large pulsating masses, the eggs are laid soon after. When the eggs are laid the parents leave to find new hosts, a dangerous event made even more so from the exhaustion of breeding and laying eggs. The fry, when hatched out of their eggs, will seek out the safety of river bubbleweed, and feed on the leaves until big enough to attach to a host. When they reach that size, some worms imbed themselve right into their childhood home, others go out to seek sauceback hosts.