Channel Kryntswisher

Channel Kryntswisher (Devincerava vadum) is a species in it's own separate family. It belongs to the Order: Kryntners (Kriontapila), a sort of predator dominated order, which in turn belongs to Kingdom: Razormarines (Novaculmonia), which can be interpretated as Earth's animals but with added bonus of having symbiotes that can chemosynthesize phosphates and to lesser extent some other substances. They are associated with aquatic habitats and due to their heritage are able to presumably photosynthesize on a low level. They also chemosynthesize on a much higher level due to the symbiote crystagoops in it's back armor. The particular species inhabits Cyroterm's channels in order to herd prey and take advantage of the currents. There used to be one more kryntswisher family but it didn't make it to the modern age.

Appearance/Anatomy:

Channel kryntswishers are quite scary. They have overly specialized appearance that makes them look alien even compared to tylosaurs, a type of prehistoric marine reptile that looked most similar to them. Channel kryntswisher possess a certain ring of transparent green armor around it's "waist". In this armor, the crystagoops can thrive and assist kryntswisher with digesting substances it couldn't gain nutrients from otherwise. Parallel to them kryntswishers also eat standart meat as well. The lower back armor protects a body part where all the muscles before the tail conjoin, thus it's kind of a C. kryntswishers weakest spot.
Also a very notable fact, the black slits are not C. kryntswisher's eyes, they are, in fact, it's gills. The green pattern, although irregular, suits C.kryntswisher well, when it's navigating the channels overridden by constant flows of green cyrotermian vegetation. C. kryntswishers have one finger on each of their sides, which similarly to Stegosaurus plates, are not clear in what kind of function they ensure.

Behavior:

C. kryntswishers are not kinder on the inside, they are barbaric and devoted to preserving what they consider theirs. When they run into each other, they tend to swim around in an overdramatical manner. Although, it can be interpretated as intimidation, they still often end up chasing and attacking each other afterwards, which means that the aquatic dance is more likely to be their way of psyching themselves up before battle. C.kryntswisher detects surroundings with it's nostrils but also boops the object it meats with it's snout which is delicate enough to tell the texture of the object it ran into. Presumably they get hit on the snout in return quite often, which is how they find out whether to eat, fight or run from the thing before them. It's snout is also prone to quick healing.

Habitat:

C. kryntswishers love living in channels, but it also brings them a lot of trouble since the channels streams constantly makes them end up in each others territories. When C.kryntswisher is done with being washed around, it tries to stick to channels sides, presumably using their side fingernails, in order to rest. They avoid more open waters since much larger predators lurk there and also avoid waters too small since there they are easier to corner from the viewpoint of their enemies. Also C. kryntswishers frequently bask their armor in light to provide symbiote crystagoops with solar energy.

Abilities:

C. kryntswishers can open their jaw wide and probably also unhinge it to their lower chest. During this their throat gets covered by crocodile like flap. C. kryntswishers expel waste in two ways, through tubes in it's tail or by integrating it into their back armor. Their eel-like body allows C. kryntswishers to avoid a lot of attacks. On the both sides of their body, C.kryntswishers have one-nailed fingers which may be useful in fights, holding to shore cliffs, maybe mating and also carrying small objects. The lower fins seem to be less suited for carrying objects, despite also having nails, they are more used to seek hidden prey in bottom of the channel.

Diet:

C. kryntswisher is a carnivore and also in-organic stuff ingester. It needs to supply it's crystagoop symbiotes, so it seeks minerals and also seeks some underwater gas reservoirs. The gas crystagoops most need for their processes and also possibly survival are various phosphate substances. C. kryntswisher is a fierce hunter but when it's full, it can lay in place for about a week. During that time it tries doing that near the water surface, since crystagoops also need the light of Cyroterm's sun. But that is risky, since there kryntswisher can be spotted and thus it needs to change it's basking spots frequently.

Life cycle:

C. kryntswisher is born, wrapped in a membrane around it's irregular body. It is very small, and lays in the belly segments of the parent crystagoop armor-ring, where both nutrients from meat and the chemosynthesis reach them. The small C.kryntswishers vaguely go through early development resembling their previous evolutions, it's starts out spindly, then becomes rounder and then starts looking like it's adult form but smaller. It gets expelled from the adult through the tail when it starts getting round and has to fend for it's own. C.kryntswishers cannot harm each other while in parent's body, they only become more predatory when they are more older and before that need to seek very small animals or carrion. When the mating season comes, C.kryntswisher have to smell each other, thus they also expel pheromones to detect the opposite gender. When they've found each other, they boop their noses and also have to intervine their tails because for ome reason, that's where their genitalia are. On the question, whether males try chomping each other tail off, they totally do, which is why C.kryntswishers are so agile to swish around, denying the change.

Ecology:

C.kryntswishers keep the smaller animal populations from becoming too widespread and ravenous and also keep each other from becoming too self-righteous (in other words, undisciplined, unchallenged males try mating with animals of other species causing chaos and harm). C.kryntswisher is a typical species that can get both ecto- and endoparasites therefore also ensuring their diversity. If C.kryntswisher is unable to hunt as much as it is capable, the herbivores end up eating all the vegetation in the channel, rendering their camouflage less effective which forces C.kryntswisher to look for other spots in order to basically survive. It has to sneak upon their prey otherwise it tries attacking it's snout which, if the prey dodges afterwards, causes C.kryntswisher to get injury instead of a meal.