Taxonomy
|
Ancestors and Descendants
|
Descended from Chasojawus. They have developed chitinous strands analogous to baleen in their mouth. They open their mouths wide to suck in water and algae that bloomed in response to volcanic ash and minerals collecting in the oceans, then squeezing the water out their closed mouth and straining the algae with their chitin strands. They have developed layers of fatty deposits to insulate themselves in the cooling oceans, as well as remaining near the surface to absorb heat and feed on algae. To extract more oxygen from the water their internal gill pumps have become external, pumping independently of their mouths. They have also become larger to capitalize off of gigantothermy, reaching twenty five to thirty centimeters long. They are slow moving and slow growing, being mostly immune to predation.