Trawler Nautstar

Over millions of years, some nyxoth nautstars ventured deeper into the dark, cold abyssal waters of the Valinoff Ocean. Some of these nautstars stayed there, spreading out to cover the whole of the darkest depths of the Valinoff Ocean. The end result was the trawler nautstar. As a result of millions of years spent in the abyssal areas of the Valinoff Ocean, it lost its eyes, pigmentation, and the ability to tuck into its shell entirely. In exchange, it has developed a new method of feeding which earns the trawler nautstar its namesake.

It has developed a series of glands along the inner edges of the arms on its left and right. By pressing its arms together, activating these glands and them spreading its arms, it creates a pair of mucus nets that it uses to feed. These nets are held together by a series of hooks along the inner edges on their left and right arms. These hooks were derived from the filter baits on the arms of their descendants and are always placed right next to the opening of a mucus gland. As it moves, it spreads out these two arms in an X-shaped formation and catches prey, typically in the form of microscopic organisms and marine snow. Once it has captured a sufficient amount of prey, it will press the bases of its tentacles where the nets start and slurp the nets up. It can take up to two hours until the trawler nautstar feels the need to create a new net.

Mutations
On rare occasions, a trawler nautstar will have the net-producing glands along the inner edges of the arms on its top and bottom. These 'saturitu' trawler nautstars live regular lives among their kin while floating in the waters above the sea floor, but lead noticeably shortened lives on the seafloor and slope. Due to the height of the giant charnlit, the downward-facing mucus nets will commonly get caught and pulled off. As a result, these trawler nautstars will get half as much nutrition as they normally get.

On even rarer occasions (1 out of every 1,000,000), a trawler nautstar will have no net-producing glands, no hooks to hold a produced net, or even neither glands nor hooks. These 'brelzovic' (glandless), 'godznei' (hookless), and 'empty' (glandless and hookless) trawler nautstars typically live for no longer than a day once they become adults.