Tweezer Flatshell Helix
"As competition over plort seeds intensified in zone 19 with the diversification of the local helids, Potamihelix epipedikochyli began to undergo intense competition for limited resources. With this resource becoming harder and harder to compete with the diversifying lineage of Hexix in the zone, a population of Potamihelix epipedikochyli began to avoid competition by shifting their diet to a new source of food. This would require several changes in anatomy that would result in a new species
6.6-13.5 cm wide
Originated in Zone 19
At first glance, the Tweezer Flatshell Helix (Potamihelix solumpastor) shares a lot in common with their ancestor when it comes to physical appearance alone. Their flat shells are hydrodynamic, thus reducing the risk of them being swept away by the currents. Meanwhile, their hind tentacles have claws well adapted to grab onto the substrate as they crawl around. While their front pair of tentacles partially serve this function, they have become less efficient at this task due to being modified to serve another purpose. The 4 sensory tentacles that help smell and taste the environment around them also have gone under minor changes, with the first two having become slightly more muscular and having broader ends."
"To avoid competition with their cousins and ancestor, the Tweezer Flatshell Helix has begun to include carrion in their diet. Their modified appendages at the front help with grabbing bodies and moving them around to get at the soft, fleshy parts of a dead helid. To do this, these tentacles have broadened with the muscles that bend them inwards and outwards having become larger and more developed. This adaptation allows them to curve the appendages inward to hold and manipulate food in a pinching motion, at the cost of their overall mobility on the substrate. Their ancestral grinding surfaces once used to process plort seeds(which they still do to a minor extent) make short work of the soft flesh and any spines on the tentacles. Tweezer Flatshell Helixes will also feed on bits of the shells on dead helids, where the calcium in the shells then gets repurposed for building their own shells. The front pair of tentacles, once used to grab onto the substrate, can provide enough force to puncture flesh and thus help tear the body into smaller pieces that can take less effort to consume.
Much like their ancestors and cousins, the Tweezer Flatshell Helix are capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction. Sperm is released into the water, which fertilizes both one's own eggs and the eggs of nearby Tweezer Flatshell Helix. The 1-2 dozen fertilized eggs are stored in their shells near the opening."