EVOLUTION ATTEMPTS: Communication pheromones- 5+.5=5, Armour- 5
(the random number gods seem to have forgiven you after they blasted you to near-extinction with the gamma ray burst fiasco)
The bony shoalcore is yet another step up from its ancestors. Using pheromones, they can communicate with other members of their mob to affect their decisions (such as using an aggression pheremone when devouring the young of a large and angry spearfaced worm). The main adaptation, however, is their skeletal system. The simple tough tissues in their head and tentacles have evolved into a bony cage surrounding their body, keeping them flexible and stopping certain species of worm (such as the grindfish, a migrant from the ocean) from attacking us as easily.
The guidelings and hives are, still, basically the same.
This explosion of life is beginning to run out again. The run-off from further upstream is thinning, possibly due to large amounts of plant growth. This is also hindering us by increasing visibility by a large amount.
GENERATION 14:
Bony 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 20 centimetres long, and their offspring are called tentaclets.
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 (such as the grindfish) 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 overgrown river