>>5429940The Flounder Feeder's shell has been cleanly divided into two dense layers, the top consisting of a thin, sturdy sheet of cartilage covered in lead, and the bottom consisting of more fatty cartilage well-suited to intercepting radiation that's penetrated the exterior. On its own, this would've returned the Flounder Feeder's previous resilience but in a further advancement, numerous struts of knotted muscle are now supporting the top layer with pockets of dense, leaded blubber shoring them up. These pockets follow a rough hexogonal pattern and with the shell's extensive subsurface reinforcement, the exterior sees a sharp increase in general durability and a far lower likelihood of fracture, even under extreme impact.
Even when chipped, the interlayer protection reduces the risk of organ trauma and makes repair possible when whole fragments of the shell are torn away. Already hardy, a mature Flounder Feeders would now wear down a cheap, far-future Terran drill bit before it could pierce the blubber. The Flounder Feeder's most notable weakness is that, general slowness and ponderous weight aside, their young require a long span of time to fully mineralize their shells. The Flounder Feeder population increases and is no longer endangered.
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