Amphi - “of both kinds” Limnē - “standing water” “marsh”
Amphilimnē is a semiaquatic mammalian species. The creatures are often characterized by their long body, and coloration of deep greens and greys. They can reach up to lengths of 4.6 meters or roughly 15 feet. Their tail is most of their body while their torso had developed long gangly arms with sharp claws to easily catch prey
Amphilimnē colors tend to range from deep greens to grays depending on the area they inhabit. Their skin is covered with scales small enough to be smooth to the touch tapering into more armor like ones as it gets to the tail. They have fins over their body to help them move more smoothly through the thick marshes they reside in.
Amphilimnē are opportunistic hunters. They will gladly sink their teeth into anything that moves. They have sharp eyesight to detect any movement underwater and strong bodies that allow them to propel themselves towards prey. When deeper under water a type of light producing algae causes UV rays to reflect on the Amphilimnē's skin causing blue glowing spots to show up on their body otherwise invisible in normal light.
Their mouths can open the same as a human but have teeth meant to rip through flesh and break bone to easily pull apart prey to feed. If they can't bite through something the first time they often try and use their hands to pry it apart before eventually giving up and swimming off.
Amphilimnē's saliva is acidic and can corrode and turn almost all biological matter into mush. This aids in digestion and deters most other speciesIf the flesh dissolving saliva does not deter a predator the teeth will. Amphilimnē's teeth are sharp and dense allowing them to bite through limbs in one go or rip off chunks of flesh.
Due to a past of long droughts on their planet they have adapted to a dire situation to evolve poorly working lungs and be able to split their tail. This process is incredibly excruciating as the tail slowly dries and splits apart over several days. Bleeding and stabbing over leaving them passed out and defenseless for most of the Transformation. After the transformation they form similar limbs to earth's sea lions. That way they can now wander land for food until the heatwave and drought is over.
Once water fills the marshes and bogs again the limbs begin to fuse once more. The healing is uncomfortable. Once the Amphilimnē is back into the water over the next year the tail begins to form once more. Skin starts to fuse over time with scar tissue leaving permanent marks in the middle of the tail. Going through this process is extremely traumatic for the being and should be avoided for proper care
Amphilimnē are extremely territorial and tend to be solo creatures if they don't have a mate. They are aggressive to both females and males of their species. To be contained together needs extreme amounts of space. Otherwise the more dominant and strong one will often kill or seriously injure the weaker one. If they make a successful kill of one of their people they have no issue cannibalizing the corpse in a feed.
The only time Amphilimnēs is peaceful with another is to a potential mate during the mating seasons. Though they are observed to be calm around a partner/mate. This species is polygamous and known to have multiple partners of different genders. This is to assure the survival of the species. They tend to lay 20-50 eggs at a time and take turns guarding them and going hunting.
