Huvudmask
Name means: Head Worm
This population of Bottenmasks has specialized in what they were already doing, scraping the ocean floor for organic material. They have done so by widening their heads, thus increasing the area they can cover. Furthermore, the front-most portion of their heads is covered by a hardened biopolymer such as chitin, which reinforces its structure. Males use this integrity to bury newly fertilized eggs with their vaguely spade-shaped anteriors. Thereby, decreasing the possibility of other individuals cannibalizing the unborn. Speaking of which, the Huvudmasks' young do not have flat, broad anterior as their parents. Instead, they possess a pointed front tipped with the same biopolymer as before, along with a more developed musculature. With these, they penetrate deeper into the seabed and Microbial Mat, where they are both safe from other Huvudmasks and environmental threats in tandem with an abundance of nutrients that have accumulated over millennia. As the young grow, their head fortification will not follow. They must therefore shed their partial exoskeleton now and again, each time growing a new one resembling more that of an adult than a juvenile. Additionally, their muscles will atrophy as they mature, making it more difficult for undulatory propulsion and instead turning towards the slower but more efficient mucus-driven locomotion of their parents and ancestors. Once fully grown, the only part of their body with a relatively wide range of movement is their heads, which will be used to bury their own spawn.
An unfortunate by-product of the Huvudmask reproductive cycle is that it oxygenates the anaerobic underlayer of the Microbial Mats, thus causing the system to collapse. Creatures that primarily feed on these mats, such as some Munmask and microscopic organisms, would go into decline in the areas where Huvudmasks propagated. The lifeforms that relied on the now-shrinking populations, for example, Huvudmasks who eat microorganisms growing on the Mats, would also have their populations decrease. Many species would be lost thanks to the changes brought on by the receding Microbial Mats, though no single family would go fully extinct.
This population of Bottenmasks has specialized in what they were already doing, scraping the ocean floor for organic material. They have done so by widening their heads, thus increasing the area they can cover. Furthermore, the front-most portion of their heads is covered by a hardened biopolymer such as chitin, which reinforces its structure. Males use this integrity to bury newly fertilized eggs with their vaguely spade-shaped anteriors. Thereby, decreasing the possibility of other individuals cannibalizing the unborn. Speaking of which, the Huvudmasks' young do not have flat, broad anterior as their parents. Instead, they possess a pointed front tipped with the same biopolymer as before, along with a more developed musculature. With these, they penetrate deeper into the seabed and Microbial Mat, where they are both safe from other Huvudmasks and environmental threats in tandem with an abundance of nutrients that have accumulated over millennia. As the young grow, their head fortification will not follow. They must therefore shed their partial exoskeleton now and again, each time growing a new one resembling more that of an adult than a juvenile. Additionally, their muscles will atrophy as they mature, making it more difficult for undulatory propulsion and instead turning towards the slower but more efficient mucus-driven locomotion of their parents and ancestors. Once fully grown, the only part of their body with a relatively wide range of movement is their heads, which will be used to bury their own spawn.
An unfortunate by-product of the Huvudmask reproductive cycle is that it oxygenates the anaerobic underlayer of the Microbial Mats, thus causing the system to collapse. Creatures that primarily feed on these mats, such as some Munmask and microscopic organisms, would go into decline in the areas where Huvudmasks propagated. The lifeforms that relied on the now-shrinking populations, for example, Huvudmasks who eat microorganisms growing on the Mats, would also have their populations decrease. Many species would be lost thanks to the changes brought on by the receding Microbial Mats, though no single family would go fully extinct.
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