The first creature is a Marsh Lunge Gar (Arundovenator occultus-concealed reed hunter) The largest species of a genus of large freshwater Lungfish that can attain lengths of up to 23 feet. Its body is eel-like and elongated down most of its body sporting an enlarged tadpole-like tail and fins enlarged from earlier Lungefish for pulling themselves through the thick strands of vegetation. Lunge Gars despite their intimidating size are exclusively predators of small prey predominantly benthic crustaceans and bivalves using sensitive pads around their faces to find prey hidden in the sand. Their teeth are pointed on one side forming a blade-like structure to shatter and mash through the hard shells of their prey. Typical of their relatives Lunge Gars are solitary laying their eggs in the thickets of stems and leaving them to their own devices and adults pose little threat to other large aquatic animals such as the Sqippo the female pictured here encounters.
Sqippos (Fluviuteuthis imumambulatio-bottom-walker river-squid) are semi-aquatic Horned Tera Squid that evolved from the Tusk Grazer their closet living relative being the Boar Grazers and their descendants. Returning to water possesses unique challenges for Tera Squids as their foot anatomy makes it impossible for the development of webbing; this is somewhat alleviated with the presence of wide feet to push through a liquid medium. The downside is that even relatively unspecialized swimmers like the Sqippo are very poor at moving on land hauling themselves about as efficiently as Sea Lion. Sqippos spend most of their time on the marsh bottom bounding to the surface every 5 minutes for air with nostrils pointing upward. Their signature tusks point downward used for a walrus-like feeding method of uprooting water plants by the stem and pulling it into their mouth with their tongue-like radula. Sqippos live in small groups usually made of several females and their young, males are usually solitary such as the male seen here during his daily foraging,
