Filterclad

Split off from the Mailclad Devorator, the Filterclad grew much larger and adapted its tentacles for filter-feeding. The chitinous armor plates on its tentacles are lined with setae, which passively capture smaller organisms; in turn, it consumes these smaller organisms by running each tentacle through its mouth as though it were licking its fingers. It eats the food caught on the setae too far away to run through its mouth by combing them out with the hooks at the ends of its tentacles, then eating them the same way. It is still capable of consuming larger organisms through scavenging, but it rarely hunts except in desperation, instead preferring to swim constantly catching plankton along the way.

The Filterclad is otherwise much like its ancestor. When it happens to scavenge on larger organisms, it retains the ability to crush them with its tentacles. It isn’t particularly fast, but as it is no longer an active hunter it has little need for speed anyway. It identifies potential food to scavenge or mates to mate with using its eyesight and illumination from its “UV bulbs”, it only meets others of its kind to fight or mate, and it has light purple blood.