EVOLUTION ATTEMPTS: Parasitism against spearfaced worms- 2+.5=2, Primitive lungs- 5, Breeding rate- 3+.5=3
The population has stabilised. Chambers in the guts have become extremely simple lungs, allowing us time on land. It isn't worth very much right now, but it's enough to get us away from predators. Our species has taken to attacking the nests of spearfaced worms to get an extra meal, as the adult worms store food for the developing young inside. The young can defend themselves, and the eggs are below a layer of mucus and silk, but the food stores are a delicious prize.
The guidelings and hives are beginning to grow in waters far shallower than many potential predators are comfortable in. The adult hive has thick skin to prevent it from drying out, in the event it becomes stranded somehow.
GENERATION 12:
Lung shoalcore
A murky green-and-brown tentacled fish-like animal that hunts in the low visibility of the estuary. They swim with their powerful tails and use their fanged tentacles to attack and kill their prey. They grow up to 15 centimetres long, and their offspring are called tentaclets. They are almost extinct.
SENSES: It has a sense of touch that lets it figure out if it's touching food, and an extremely good sense of smell/taste. Symbiotic guidelings help it find live prey. A keen electrical sense lets it find creatures that are close to it, and it can feel vibrations in the water from moving creatures.
REPRODUCTION: It lets out male cells when they meet a mate they approve of, and growths grow inside of the womb. Tentaclets follow their mother until they can be dropped off at their hive. They eat mucus that the hive creates and, when they are large enough, find a suitable guideling to make a nest with.
MOVEMENT: They move by swimming like a fish. Sacs of carbon dioxide keep them buoyant. They also have jets which also function as their gills, which they use to make fine movement.
EATING: It impales small animals and digests them by drawing them into the tentacles. They are able to prey on fast swimmers, and they use venom. Most of their food is from unearthed mud worms. Algae and seaweeds are also on the menu.
PREDATION: The larger species of jawworm and spearfaced worm may prey on us, as long as they're immune.
COMPETITION: Our diminutive size means that we are now at the mercy of other predators. There are numerous types of predators of our size, and we are vulnerable.
ENVIRONMENT: A murky shallow estuary. Various species of worms (collective small ancestors of aciblobs and crawlers) burrow in the muck or swim around to filter-feed or hunt. It is usually fresh-water, although tides can cause an influx of salt.
NEARBY ENVIRONMENTS: subtropical overgrown coast, wide murky river