Eelsnakes of The Late Hothouse
290 million years P.E the eelsnakes have not only fully recovered their diversity from before the Mid-Ultimocene ice age, but have exceeded it compared to any era before.
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1. Vineviper (Acerbasurculus feralis - deadly biting-branch), an arboreal descendant of the strikeneck fangworm which can match its body color exactly to the tree branches it curls itself around, lying in wait for small prey to come within range of its extensible neck to lunge out and catch it. Turreted eyes can move independently to spot prey in any direction, and four fangs at the tips of its jaws hold prey tight as it struggles briefly before its venom takes effect.
2. Glooba (Plenavermis amabilius - lovely plump-worm), a large representative of a worldwide family of fossorial fangworms, native to central and south Serinarcta. Almost blind and with little pigment, the chubby, bright pink glooba lives its entire life below the soil, feeding on earthworms and soil insects. Large forelimb claws help it to crawl through tunnels and defend itself from enemies.
3. Flamboyant flarer (Cornuspinopteryx carnosus - flashy horn-spined-fin), a strikingly beautiful, fully aquatic sea dragon found within the reefs of the Meridian seamount. Flarers include some of the smallest river dragons, but this is a larger species of its group, reaching to 3 feet long. They are adapted to living in burrows in shallow, sunlit water and ambushing small passing fish. Only males are brightly colored with elaborate fins - females are dull. Males can also adjust their colors in a matter of seconds, dulling to a slate gray with two black bars if threatened. Males are competitive and display and spar with one another over smaller females. Flarers are often symbiotic with lobster-like crayfish which provide a sheltering burrow in exchange for the flarer's keen eyesight and better ability to catch food. Flarers have lost use of their lung - they do not need to gulp air in the sea, which is well-oxygenated. Instead, their gills are very well-developed.
4. Weaseldrake (Migalesquamus venatus - hunting scaled-ferret), a very unusual species of eeldrake native to the nightforest which is completely terrestrial and independent of water. With non-functioning gills and a thick, impermeable skin that is resistant to drying out, the weaseldrake hunts small prey in burrows and holes, much like a stoatshrike. Descended from tree-climbing species that used their tails to aid in grasping branches, weaseldrakes now curl them while on the ground and bear weight on them, moving with a tripodal bounding motion similar to the unrelated tribbets, though far less specialized. Its forearms, unique among all eelsnakes, are erect.
5. Barberpole eelamander (Virgaperticus luteaplagosus - orange-baned striped-pole), a marine fangworm notable for its social lifestyle. Adults dwell in mated pairs within shallow sunlit waters with loose sand substrate, and once having dug out a burrow, they rarely leave it. They live communally with as many as 100 offspring, ranging from numerous newborns 3 inches long to a few lingering subadults approaching their maximum length of 4 feet. Traveling in schools, young barberpoles feed on plankton and algae, filtering it from the water by swallowing mouthfuls and then regurgitating it through a set of backwards-facing spines in their throats. Adults rarely hunt; they are fed by their many offspring in return for a safe place to live until they find their own burrow at adulthood. Lacking gill openings, and too large to respire with their skin alone in warm, tropical water, marine eelamanders must breathe by puling water into their opening mouths and flushing it against feathery, vascularized tissue on the roof of the mouth and upper portion of their throat, then ejecting it. The throat spines of the juvenile are modified gill tissues. All life stages are venomous, and advertise their bites with warning coloration; this defense allows even very young barberpoles to swim in open water with little risk of attack.
6. Roly-poly Flopfish (Piscopimus laetupinguis - joyfully-plump fat-fish), a distinctively rotund descendant of the fringed quagdragon that lives in warm, shallow, vegetated waters around the Centralian Sea basin. This portly little river dragon, which can weigh up to 50 pounds, is slow-moving, mild-mannered, and can spend weeks at a time resting in mud at the bottom of lakes and ponds in between meals. When hungry, it forages for anything that will fit into its mouth, finding food by scent and by touch with its sensitive whiskers. Though not well-suited to move over land, the flopfish often sits in shallow water with just its eyes sticking up, waiting for some small bird or other creature to come nearby to drink, and then gobbling it up. If threatened, it can deliver a powerful bite for its size, and emits a high-pitched wail by releasing air stored within its lung. It is a social animal, enjoying the company of its own kind, and communicates with tactile touching of the face with the whiskers. Adults of both sexes provide care for their offspring for up to a month after they are born, driving away predators that threaten the little ones as they forage for food - mostly small insects at that stage. Juveniles are thin and eel-like, much better swimmers than the sedentary adult, which allows them to disperse away from their birthplace as they grow.
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