Space/Click --- Densista aspidus Alias: Armored Macetail Niche: Omnivore Evolved From: Macetail Desc: The Armored Macetail is a smallish-medium Macetail subspecies that mainly eat Fruitroof leaves and smaller prey. The many small plates lining their back and the underside of their tails are extremely hard to break, although they do weaken over time as they're damaged by predators and other threats. Like regular Macetails, they hunt prey by smashing creatures to death. Females have slightly smaller armor plates. Males compete for females by headbutting and/or hitting each other with their tails until one either backs off or dies, usually the latter. They usually live alone, but can sometimes form small packs of up to 5. Life Cycle: A few months after mating, females give live birth to 2-4 larvae. Both parents care for the larvae until they reach maturity at 2 years old. Armored Macetail parents usually disperse after successfully raising their brood for 8-10 months before gathering together to breed again. They can live for up to 8.5-9 years. - Densista karfons Alias: Spiked Macetail Niche: Carnivore Evolved From: Macetail Desc: A larger subspecies of Macetail, the Spiked Macetail is a relatively slow predator, usually coming at prey in a small burst of speed. The spikes on their tails further harm creatures along with the impact of being hit by their tails. They're pretty bold creatures, usually attacking larger prey. While hunting, they almost always aim to attack their prey's head in an attempt to kill them as fast as possible. These Macetails are highly aggressive, especially while raising offspring. Life Cycle: Female Spiked Macetails give live birth to 1-2 larvae, the males being the main caretaker until the larvae reach maturity at 1.5 years old. They breed every 2 years after reaching maturity, and can live for up to 10 years, rarely 12. - Synthlivans dyourus Alias: Crushing Flatail, or simply Flatail/Flat-tail Niche: Omnivore Evolved From: Macetail Desc: A close relative of the Macetail genus, the Flatail is an odd fish whose tail ends in a wide, flat, plate-like thing, which is what they were named after. They mainly eat other, smaller creatures, but occasionally also feed on Fruitroofs. They hunt prey by crushing their head between their tail and the seafloor. Life Cycle: Flatails lay 2-5 eggs about a month after mating, which take a few weeks to hatch. Flatail mothers always let their offspring eat first, which can sometimes lead to mothers starving to death, usually a few months or weeks before the larvae reach maturity. They reach maturity at 2 years old and breed every 2.5 years. They have an average lifespan of 11 years. - Monuminmonstris reptaungues Alias: Crawling Monument Niche: Slow-Moving Predator/Omnivore Evolved From: Typhon's Monument Desc: This large Monument species has become completely blind, having little need for their already barely functional eyes. Their fleshy feeding organs are now covered in digestive enzymes, and, when touched by a fish (or other large enough object), will curl up, trapping their prey and slowly digesting them alive, not unlike Earth's sundews. Throughout their lives, they slowly travel through the ocean, moving only around 1-3 meters each day. Life Cycle: At the end of its life, a Crawling Monument releases hundreds of eggs through the tube-like organs on their sides before promptly dying. These eggs are very light and buoyant for the first few hours of their existence, allowing them to float away for a while before sinking to the seafloor. Crawling Monument larvae are able to walk within the first 3-6 hours of their lives. They mature at 3 years old and can live for up to 15 years.
