>>5408048>>5408050>>5408051>>5408052>>5408053>>5408056After eons spent crooked, the Flounder Feeders have finished straightening their bodies. No longer vulnerable to the tides catching on their humps, their hydrodynamism is now unmatched outside of the Ripple Trackers and unlike them, the Flounder Feeders have a powerful tail capable of steering their direction even in some of the heavier swells. To some, this is a tragedy, but to others, this is a triumph millennia in the making. No matter the truth, this is a significant improvement to the Flounder Feeder’s structural efficiency and, arguably, when examining the broad shape of ancient Terran aquatic life, a curious example of convergent evolution. This noticeably improves their already considerable success as a predator and when staving off the inevitability of extinction, every impact counts.
At the same time, the Flounder Feeders have developed a far more elaborate waste disposal system than simply excreting it from their mouths. Now, they release it from a new hole, an “ass” of sorts, in the opposite side of their bodies. On the surface this may seem similar to the previous method, but now, tongue infections are less likely and its closeness to the waste organ ensures less energy is expended trying to expel its contents. Unfortunately, it’s a very simple exit chute with very little in the way of dedicated muscles, merely letting momentum do the task once the waste organ starts to fill, but this is prone to complications and a few Flounder Feeders have died an honourless death as a result.
As a result of multiple evolutionary shifts in so short a span, a minor but alarmingly consistent mutation preventing proper digestion takes hold in the Flounder Feeder’s changing genome. Its duration is brief but the damage is done and the Flounder Feeder population drops by forty percent. The remaining population, however, is poised to proliferate. At this time, the Ripple Tracker’s only true advantage is in speed, and only then due to the weight of the Flounder Feeder’s blubber.
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