Sandtrapin

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Sandtrapin
(Insidiator nandiliberos)
Main image of Sandtrapin
Species is extant.
Information
CreatorBardic Other
Week/Generation23/148
HabitatDarkov Temperate Coast, Elerd Temperate Coast
Size70 cm Long
Primary MobilitySessile
SupportUnknown
DietCarnivore (Drake Uktank, Islandball Gillfin, Gillrom, Spotted Shocker, Wolley)
RespirationUnknown
ThermoregulationEctotherm
ReproductionSexual, Hermaphrodite, Genetic Material Spawned Into The Water, Spores
Taxonomy
Domain
Kingdom
Subkingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Suborder
Family
Genus
Species
Eukaryota
Phoenoplastida
Pansegmentocaudazoa
Segmentocaudazoa
Abyssovermes
Teratocrina
Pluritrappiformes
Insidiatoridae
Insidiator
Insidiator nandiliberos
Ancestor:Descendants:

The sandtrapin split from its ancestor, the colonial trapinout, due to a mutation. Some trapinout were produced without shells, thus leaving them without defenses beyond their paralytic tentacles. As they were pressured by predation and competition from their shelled brethren, a group of shell-less trapinout migrated to the temperate coasts of East Darwin, where there was less competition. After a time, they began to adapt to their new environment in noticeable ways. They lost their twinkiiro and sandglobe lures, as neither flora was present in their environment, and these developed into a flat, lobed tail. Without the lures to aid them in detecting prey, they needed to develop an alternative method of location. Some of their paralytic tentacles gradually developed into feelers, allowing them to detect disturbances around them and pinpoint movement.

They also had to adopt a new method of feeding, now lacking their shells to hide in: after a time, they changed their tactics to flattening themselves along the sand, which they mimicked in color, until a island colonialball/symbioraft diaminet 'raft' floats by. They then rise from the sand, moving swiftly, and dart up to snatch their prey from below. Once they have them grabbed their prey, they then inject it with a paralyzing solution from their oral tentacles. This approach allows them to capture prey of all sizes. To attack a drake uktank, of course, they require a different strategy: with such large prey, they must immediately paralyze it and then attack its weak point, usually the eyes, before proceeding to devour it.

As well, the sandtrapin has obtained a new method of reproduction: as a free-swimming organism, asexual budding would be less effective. With the usage of sexual, rather than asexual, reproduction, the sandtrapin population also is more diverse and able to adapt. Each individual acts as a hermaphrodite, releasing both 'male' and 'female' sexual material, as well as the 'hormone cell' sex used by other anipedes. Once an individual comes in contact with the other two sexes' genetic material, it begins to produce spores from an organ located on its tail. The sandtrapins' various adaptations have allowed them to prosper along the East Darwin coastline.