Gudabayil

Gudabayil (maritimoechidnaidae) are a small monogeneric family of echidna found in the australian coral reefs. Their name translates to file-dog in the endangered aboriginal Dyirbal language. They are closely related to the libgwil on the shore.

They have a strange lifestyle as a maritime monotreme. Their body is a torpedo shape rather than fully rounded in order to move faster, and their spines are pushed against their skin to provide a hydrodynamic "shell". When they come upon a threat, they will either flex the spines up or swing with their claws. They don't really swim that often despite being quite good at it, they would rather hook onto rocks and propel themselves that way.

They posesss a long beak with one neotanous egg tooth in the front to crush their prey. Eusocial shrimp, sponges, starfish, and worms are all preyed upon by the Gudabayil. They detect their prey with their electroreceptors, which are much better than their ancestors. If they need to, they tear open rock with their claws and slurp up their prey with their long barbed tongue. Their beak also possesses wide closed nostrils complete with salt glands.

They can stay underwater without needing air for at least 9 minutes. If its warm enough and they dont need endothermy they can go for 15 minutes straight. The only time that they need to come on land is when they need to breed. Their style of breeding are harems, where nobody knows whose puggle is whose. When they breed, the females lay their fertilized eggs in a burrow and store them in her pouch. The eggs can't get into seawater, so the female can hold it all season long until the puggle hatches and finishes nursing in 3 months.