Snub-Beaked Needleworm

Snub-Beaked Needleworm
Creator	oofle
Information
Status	Extant
Common Name(s)	Snub-Beaked Needleworm
Zones	K
Roles	Scavenger
Classification
Genus	Iniectognathus
Species	Iniectognathus charcarodon
Evolution
Date	May 25th, 2020
Ancestor	Hook-Beaked Needleworm
Descendants	No results

As Iniectognathus saeclum continued doing stuff in Zone K, there was an imminent problem: Though they often lived long enough to reproduce before it happened, their beaks often wore down as they injected acid through them again and again. The Snub-Beaked Needleworm (I. charcarodon) solves this problem by reducing the amount of time acid spends passing through the beak. This is accomplished by decreasing the length of the beak in combination with stronger stomach and throat muscles, allowing the acid to be squirted faster and with more force. This allows their beak to last longer, which is very important since their ability to feed depends on it.

They seek out corpses of small creatures like canetodes and cacosapods using their echolocation. When they find a suitable corpse, they use their beaks to inject their stomach acid inside and then suck up the liquefied remains through their straw-like beak.

Like their ancestor, they breathe through their skin and sleep and wake up in 3 hour cycles. They attempt to reproduce with any individual they can find. After fertilization females will lay 25-30 small, round eggs near carrion and leave them to fend to themselves. The young will gain the ability to squirt acid about 4 weeks after hatching, relying on fluids already present in the carcass in the meantime. After 7-8 weeks, they reach sexuality maturity and begin searching for mates. They can live up to several years and reach a maximum size of 30cm (with a beak length of approximately 3cm), although they may fall victims to predators such as O. panivore and I. acidonenum.

When startled, the Snub-Beaked Needleworm will occasionally squirt acid in response. However, this is generally not used defensively due to the shape of the beak making it difficult to squirt acid on a specific target.