Relics of the Refugia

20 Million years after their ancestors began their conquest across the globe squim now take on a variety of forms. Far from the algae feeding bottom dwellers of the past these new squims are agile, dangerous, and predatory. Their sensory appendages coopted for feeding and their gill skirt reduced to avoid drag, squim are equipped to take on any niche, including the niche of their ancestors.

Below brackish waters patches of blue algae may be dotted with aposematically colored squim not unlike the cyanopluma of the past. While these rug mungles are superficially distinct from their ancestors, their lifestyle is not too dissimilar. Brightly colored so to broadcast their toxicity as defense against the many predators found to the Cetiocene. While the rug mungle can be found among the algae barrens just along the border of the xelp forests they aren't the only residents. Found along side the mungles in the xelp forests doughball lumpkins scurry across the seafloor relying on their camouflage and small size to keep them out of harms way. Filter feeders much like their ancient ancestors they favor constant circulation ocean currents to properly filter their surroundings for food, it is in this way that a commensal relationship has formed between the doughball lumpkins and the rug mungles. As rug mungles sift through the sediment searching for algae they kick that nutrient rich sediment into the water column providing the doughball lumpkins with an excellent opportunity to sieve the water for food. An exceedingly rare example of a free lunch on Planet Aether