Clinging Crablet
Length: 30 cm long
Multis diegoii is a muscal native to the Megalomagnus Watershed. It feeds primarily on polyphs and will utilizes it claws to capture prey. They will cannibalize the young of their own species when their exoskeleton is not thick enough to prevent damage from an adults' claws.
The Clinging Crablet’s flesh incorporates chlorophyll from the polyphs it consumes, for juveniles this primarily serves as camouflage when they are around polyphs, the adults use this for display due to their lack of predators. They breed during winter when they head to barren rocky areas where their green coloration stands out. Their legs are longer than their ancestor’s to aid in clinging river substrate, and their claws have developed a slicing edge to cut polyphs.
The young hatch on rocks completely transparent, moving skittishly and eating detritus until they grow big enough to chew pieces of polyphs. They take around a year to grow to full size, quickly gaining green coloration when they are large enough. Females will lay around 300 eggs in a single session, ensuring some will reach adulthood.
The young retain some social behavior, grouping up in loose congregations of around 20-35 members. Adults lose these instincts, but may still roam in groups of 3-5 individuals, this aids in hunting efficiency as prey that escapes one individual may be caught by another.
The females develop a visible saddle of eggs to display they are ready to spawn, these saddles typically take on a brown hue through their green flesh due to the reddish-orange color of the eggs.
To fight off conspecifics for more access to polyphs it is advantageous to be larger but to be larger an individual gain greater protein from predation so the more successful predators also tend to be a more vivid green and better at attracting mates.