Dreadsnapper
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The turtsnappers living in Bone River, due to abundance of food and lack of predators, started to move to new biomes, splitting into a new species. The dreadsnapper has about the double size of its ancestor and will live most of the time underwater or nearly submerged, coming out to breathe or to do short night strolls.
The most noticeable change is its shovel-like head and the skin color, which changed to brown and purple to better blend with the muddy soil of the water bodies in Huggs, while it also can mimic the flora. Following the change, the eyes are placed in three different positions, allowing the creature to see what is above, in the sides or in the front without move the head too much. It also evolved small membranes in the sides of the head and the tail, being some of them thin and longer, which help it to feel vibrations in the water.
To get food, it will use two basic tactics: or it will swim and catch the prey, bashing on it with the long tail, or will stay half buried in the mud waiting for something to come close, being these detected by the movement sensors or by the top eyes. When young, they will adopt more the second tactic, to prevent to be taken by adult dreadsnappers, which adopt more the first tactic.
They will hunt mostly at night, resting in the bottom of the rivers and lakes during the day. During the mating season, they will take care of their "nests". A newly evolved flora species showed to be a perfect place to lay eggs, and now they use it as a safe place to raise them. During the day, when the umbracloas are open, the female will lay up to five eggs into each one in a short area where she is able to patrol. Umbracloas will always have water inside and this helps dreadsnappers to keep their eggs wet. At night, they will close and keep the eggs protected, allowing the female to leave the nests and hunt. During the day, the mother will be always close to the nests and, while she sleeps, will move the tail. The fake head in the tip of the tail helps to prevent small predators to come close and destroy the nests.
While it also has the umbracloas as part of its diet, it avoids eating them when they are wider, due to presence of young dreadsnappers inside. If another creature tries to approach at night, the female will try to scare it, but sometimes some eggs can be lost. Since the female uses the long body to make a turn around the nests, those placed in the outer borders are more likely to be destroyed, while those placed in the center usually will allow the eggs to hatch. When hatching, the young dreadsnappers will eat their nests and move to the bottom of the river, burying in the ground to hide from predators. Most of the eggs with hatch, but only a small part of the young dreadsnappers will reach the adulthood. They live in small groups and no many adults are found in the same area.
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