Hammerhead Scuttler

Splitting from its ancestor, the hammerhead scuttler has gotten its name from the expression of several genes from its distant strainbean ancestor. This has granted it better vision compared to that of its relatives, as well as an expanded surface for the rest of its senses. With the aid of its trunk it can reach into cracks and crevices and feed on whatever is lodged within them. They have begun to evolve a forth pair of legs. While not yet functional in terms of walking, they are used for aerating their tiny eggs before they hatch into planktonic larvae. Said eggs are a development that grants the young a better chance at survival, and allowing them to develop further before being released into the plankton.

Said plankton is also the reason for how hammerhead scuttlers came to colonize the waters off Drake. When scuttler larvae, floating about within the plankton clouds and at the mercy of the currents, were transported across the sea along the northernmost cold ocean currents located along the North Sagon 4 Ice Sheet. When they were eventually deposited within Artir Polar Bay, they quickly came to thrive throughout the region due to a lack of competition from other scuttler species.

Living amongst rocks and pebbles, hammerhead scuttlers will often hide between them for safety from predators that can't reach them there. They will only leave here to mate, with females accumulating their tiny eggs beneath their tails and the males fertilizing them. After several weeks, the females will release their eggs as they hatch into larvae that float up into the plankton level. They will remain here until they are developed enough to sink to the bottom, after which they will shed their jointed swarmer-like larval form and molt into their adult forms. They will soon reach sexual maturity within a year or two, and then repeat the process once again.