Tide Hopper

Tide Hopper
Creator	OviraptorFan
Information
Status	Extant
Common Name(s)	Tide Hopper, Tidal Blenny Gendia
Zones	28, O
Roles	Base-Consumer, Predator
Classification
Genus	Harenigendia
Species	Harenigendia lacusalios
Evolution
Date	November 3rd, 2020
Ancestor	Cyclops Blenny
Descendants	No results

As populations of Harenigendia gobinsus thrived along the coastline of Zone O, some populations began moving closer to land by specializing for life in the tidepools and shallows. Avoiding competition from their relative Harenigendia tigrus and their ancestors but they had to face new challenges which resulted in speciation.

4-6cm long
Originated in zones 28 and O, in the tidepools.

As they became adapted to live only in the tidal zones, the Tide Hopper (Harenigendia lacusalios) had to deal with the tides. While the shallow water meant maintaining buoyancy was less important being able to breath the open air, even for a few minutes, was important for moving between tidepools. The Tide Hopper's skin increased the number of blood vessels close to the surface to improve cutaneous respiration. It may only be enough to have them breath air for only 30 minutes but it allows them to move between tidepools. Their swim bladders have reduced to a vestigial size since buoyancy is less important.

Their pectoral fins have become larger and broader, while the shoulder joint has become more flexible, allowing them to push themselves in the mud to move between tidepools. In the water, this also allow them to beat their fins to remain stable in the waves via median paired fin swimming, beating the fins back and forth to remain relatively stable against the waves; although they spend much of their time buried in the mud waiting for anything small enough to eat to pass by. Their skin has become a dark brown with a dark yellow underside and the upper lobe of the tail fluke in males being a bright blue similarly. These colors help camouflage in the sediment from prey and predators, the prey they consume with their wider mouths, in conjunction with their larger body size, helps to consume larger food. They spend more time sitting in one spot than their ancestors causing them to be primarily carnivorous although they will still supplement their diet with polyphs whem available.

Since there is limited space and food in tidepools too many individuals could disturb the tidepools and attract unwanted attention, such as predators, they are highly territorial and the number of individuals in a tidepool can range from 1 to 3 depending on its size. Intruders entering a full tidepool will be greeted by gaping jaws of the current inhabitants as a display prepared for "mouth wrestling", originating from territorial biting, forcing one of them to leave the pool and search for one somewhere else. If an individual has been rejected from several tidepools and begins to weaken, they may take a big risk and crawl into the ocean itself. This leaves them out in the open and vulnerable to the much faster and more active predators of the open waters that can't survive in the tidepools where the Tide Hoppers normally live in.

When the time comes to spawn Tide Hoppers will lay 4 to 6 5mm eggs before burying them in the sediment. The newly hatched 1cm young will spend the early parts of their life living in the tidepool they spawned in as they develop enough to last long in the open air. At this size though, the hatchling can take advantage of the polyphs, and any small muscals living alongside them, within the tide pool. The adults often tolerate their presence because they primarily eat polyphs while they eat the other muscals dwelling in the tidepools. This very habit, results in the juveniles leaving the tidepools as soon as possible to avoid being eaten adults, or be forced out anyway if they live long enough to change from food to competition. This usually results in a higher death rate for juveniles than their ancestors, resulting in adults producing larger amounts of eggs than the Cyclops Blenny to counter the higher death rates.