Australian Mudflats

The sea level rise in Australia has left the flat land all along the coast flooded. Whenever the tides fall, vast mudflats arise along the coast. These mudflats are home to several endemic species which are essential to the slow rebuilding of the entire oceanic ecosystem. One unique aspect of the mudflats is that bioluminescent plankton can be frequently seen in tidepools and in mud during the low tide at night.

Puffducks

Puffducks (dictioanas) are a genus of average sized coastal duck descended from the Musk Duck. They mostly live along the Southern and Western coast of Australia. Their feathers are white with hints of brown on the tail feathers. Males have a black iridescent bill lobe that they can puff up. Puffducks moved to the coast due to inland droughts during the Holocene.

Puffducks feast on small fish and kelp. Feeding times are during both high tide and low tide. In order to not sink in the occasional quicksand, their wide feet and somewhat weak flying prowess keep them safe. While feeding, they sometimes form up into small groups for a while until splitting off to go on their own. When the mating season comes, the males all form a lek. In an attempt to impress a female, they flap their wings and puff up their bill pouch. They also make mating calls that demonstrate an impressive cultural memory. Their ancestors picked up human words from the holocene, most of which are profanity, and repeat them to their hatchlings and possible mates.

Mudiles

Mudiles (genus lutumcrocodilius) are descendants of saltwater crocodiles. They can be found along the western and northern coast of Australia. They measure in at 11 feet in length and they have beige scales.

Mudiles have the basic crocodilian bodyplan that has worked for ages. The only biological difference between them and their ancestors is the fact that their scales have different colors and that they're smaller. Their ancestors gradually shrunk in size due to a lack of food in the Holocene, but their tolerance for starvation is what helped the species survive in the end.  

Mudiles feast on shorebirds, washed up fish, and mammals. They disguise themselves by rolling around in mud and sand. Then, they bury themselves in the sand and crush any approaching prey with their powerful jaws. 

Shorks

Shorks (lamamangiyuwanga) are a genus of shark descended from the epaulette shark. They are found along the western coast of Australia. They measure in at 3 1/2 feet in length. They have a light brown coloration with spots of beige dotting their whole body.

A Shork's main prey is sand worms, crustaceans, and bivalves. During low tide at night, Shorks crawl up on the beach and feel around in the sediment for invertebrates with their electroreceptors. Then, they dig into the sand with their long, shovel shaped heads and crush any hard prey with their plated mouth. Once they begin to dry out or run out of oxygen, they use their fins to waddle back to the water. They can stay out of the water for hours at a time due to moisture in the air providing very little oxygen to the gills as well as organ shutdown conserving oxygen.

Libgwil

Libgwil (litustachyglossus) are a genus descended from short-beaked echidnas. They measure in at 2 1/3 feet in length and have a white-beige coloration. Libgwil can be found along the entire Australian coast. 

Libgwil feast sand worms and eggs. They shove their very short noses into the sand and pick up the signatures of worms with their electroreceptors. Once it finds its prey, its tears through the ground with its giant claws and slurps up any worms it can find. When hunting for eggs, they seek out nesting sites and crack open the eggs with their egg tooth, which was preserved through neoteny. They then slurp out the contents with their short tongue.

The name Libgwil comes from an aboriginal story involving cannibalism and echidnas. After mating, which is a vulgar affair, the female holes herself in a burrow next to the beach. Once the egg hatches, the puggle will stay in it's mothers pouch until its spikes force it to leave. The mother will hunt while the baby sits in her pouch. In the very rare instance that there is no food to be found, the mother will eat her young. They cannibalize not for any reason other than the fact that they don't recognize their own children because they're dumb as rocks.