Terrorfruit
As the populations of Viciousfruit (Fructohelix malificus) exploded in number due to only having on natural predator and a former abundance of prey, they quickly made short work of the helids in zone 5. This lead to intense interspecific competition, and driving populations to experiment. One population of Viciousfruit began to snatch prey that swam from above, developing longer upper tentacles to grab a victim and bring it within range of their beaks. This eventually lead to a completely new species that would specialize in this lifestyle.
20-25 centimeters long (from the back of the shell to the tip of its lower facial limbs)
17-21 centimeters long (length of upper mouth tentacles)
28.5-37.5 centimeters long (total length)
Having moved away from a diet of benthic creatures to pelagic ones, the Grappling Snasso has developed several adaptations to help with this new diet. The largest change is their gigantic upper mouth tentacles (which have become almost as long as the length of the whole muscal and have large muscles to help with moving them with speed). The Grappling Snasso lie in wait, partially buried in the sediment with their upper tentacles partially retracted into the shell, for prey to approach. When prey approaches, they rapidly extend their upper tentacles, using the claws to impale the victim. Once the target is caught, they quickly wrap their tentacle around the victim to ensure it can't escape before bringing them towards the mouth to be eaten. It is here where the second largest change has occurred, as the lower tentacles help push the prey into the powerful beak which has developed serrations to help tear the victim apart into chunks that can be swallowed. The shell has become nearly dark brown while the body is a dark brownish orange, making it harder for predators and prey alike to spot them until they get too close and in striking range, their ancestral habit of digging their rears into the substrate also helps with breaking up their outline. Their eye have moved upwards as well, to help spot dangers/potential victims swimming around during the day (which is when they hunt).
The Grappling Snasso retains its ancestor’s egg pouch, breeding in the winter and protecting their eggs by placing them in the pouch. The pouch is not visible while it is in a relaxed position, but its opening may be exposed if it were to stretch out. The opening of the pouch is near its cloaca, and the pouch itself coils around its body. While the babies do still supplement their diet with particulate matter, they will snatch small muscals swimming around in the water column if they get the chance. While as adults, they have no natural predators when the species evolved, juveniles get eaten by both P. sandapygmeus and the Viciousfruit very often. Their best defense against smaller pelagic predators (like P. sandapygmeus), is to try to grab them with their upper mouth tentacles and latch on (the chitinous serrations developed from the skin on their lower mouth tentacles help hold on) while viciously biting them with their beaks. They stand no chance against Viciousfruit with this strategy, however, and can only flee or try to hide if they spot one. The active predation of these two species helps to keep the numbers of Grappling Snasso down, but when an adult reaches full size they are relatively safe from predation and have a wide array of tasty morsels just waiting to be snatched up.