Bistage Osse

Replacing its ancestor, the bistage osse has now shrunk to ten percent their ancestral size. They get their name from the new reproductive cycle that they have developed. Their ancestors were being fed upon by the larvae of the glacial sauceback, so in response they began parasitizing on them. The cycle begins when a sauceback larvae ingests a osse spore. These spore hatch into a osse larvae which latch on to the intestinal walls of saucebacks and begin feeding on their blood. These are little more than cell clusters with a digestive system. They are able to extract sulfur from within the blood due to it being a basic component of all living things. They stay their for months, becoming part of their hosts, until they reach sexual maturity. When the saucebacks reproduce, the osse detect the hormonal changes in the blood, then using specialized cells in their mouths they release a cathartic that causes the saucebacks to expel the osse into the oasis. By then, they have reached their second stage. Their second stage is much more like their ancestors. They use their newly developed tentacles to hunt. Due to their smaller size they have lost two tentacles. They feed on organisms that can be found that the surfaces of the oasis, but live more at the bottom where the vents keep their enzymes functioning. Their digestive systems are more complex at this stage, and their mouths are capable of stretching forward, allowing them to lurch forward and snatch their prey. They then bud every other day until they grow a stable population. Once they reach their end, they release hundreds of spores into the water and die.