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Beachcombers are a species of non-sapient omnivorous faunal lifeforms. They can be found on their homeworld of Violaxxas, roaming some of the coastal beaches in search for their next meal. They are near the bottom of the food web.
Information[]
Sporepedia Description[]
"The Beachcomber was the first of its kind to reach the shore on a pair of legs, finally guiding their lineage out of the water they had long called home. But land was not to be as easily conquered as they may have hoped it would be..."
Statistics[]
Locomotion: Beachcombers crawl around using a pair of splayed-out, two toed legs. Their posterior is usually dragged through the sand. Their multitude of swimming tendrils still vestigially flail about as they move.
Environment: Beachcombers are found on a few of the coastal beaches of the planet Violaxxas, although their habitation range is not particularly large. Because Beachcombers have only recently left the oceans of their homeworld, they are still bound to it and must return to it occasionally, although they only require it for occasional baths (to keep their skin wet) and to lay their eggs.
Diet: They are not a picky species, and will feed on both dead organisms and fallen fruit whenever they may come across it (assuming that they are hungry). If need be, they are not above goring and killing some of the other smaller organisms that roam the beach.
Size: Beachcombers are quite tiny.
Lifespan: Not very long-lived species due to a primitive existence, Beachcombers rarely live past 2 years, and their maximum lifespan seems to be about 3.4 years.
Personality: Lacking.
Species Type: Cold-blooded Amphibious Organism
Lifestyle: Solitary Scavenger
Hunt/Forage Success Rate: 40% Scavenge (100% success rate when food is found), 40% Forage (100% success rate when food is found), 20% Hunt (10% success rate)
Armor: Beachcombers do not possess armoring.
Defenses: Beachcombers are too tiny to defend themselves against most predators, and usually rely on escaping on foot. It helps if they are closer to the shoreline, as they are still entirely capable of powerful swimming. Once in the water, they will usually swim into a crevice or crack in some of the local rocks or coral-like organisms in the local tidal pools. While they can no longer extract oxygen from water, they use their proboscis as a siphon to breathe. They will quickly pull the proboscis into their refuge should the predator get too near to its hiding place, and will slowly extend it past the surface over the course of the next thirty seconds, as their lungs can only hold about a minute's worth of atmosphere. Multiple eyes help them spot predators in time. If a predator does not eat them fast enough, they will try and wriggle free of its grasp, often using their tusks to poke at the predator's skin in a desperate attempt to hurt or pinch them and cause them to flinch, thus letting them go.
A Beachcomber.
Weapons: The main line of offense for a Beachcomber are the two tusks that flank their proboscis. These are used mainly to gore equally-sized or smaller organisms on the beach to feed upon, although they also are used to poke at predators who don't eat them fast enough. Multiple eyes help them spot potential food items.
Tools: Beachcombers are wholly incapable of manipulation.
Method of Eating: If prey is a living organism, gore it with the tusks that flank the proboscis and kill it. Once dead (or if item was not able to escape in the first place), tip of proboscis is inserted into the flesh of the victim. Digestive juices are oozed out of the proboscis to soften the tissue up and then it is all sucked into the Beachcomber's body, where digestion finishes inside of the stomach-intestine organ called a cobblepot. Whatever is left over after digestion is excreted through the cloaca on the opposite end.
Reproductive Rate: Reproduce every 2 months.
Gestation: 2 weeks until eggs are laid.
Offspring Incubation: 3-7 days until eggs hatch, depending on seasonal temperatures. Any longer and the eggs likely have not survived.
Number of Offspring: ~2,000 eggs per clutch
Offspring Survival Rate (before age of maturity): .002% -- Around two young will survive to maturity from every clutch laid.
Singular/Plural: Beachcomber/Beachcombers
Trivia[]
- A group of Beachcombers is called a splat.
- The binominal name for the Beachcombers means "tube to suck" and "beach comb".