The Maritime Muck

On the Kyran Islands of Serina, 150 million years PE, there dwells one group of birds very different from anything else on the island. They are entirely without feathers, and their skin is instead protected by a layer of beaded and reptilian scales and scutes. A large claw originates from the fused tip of the second and third fingers, and the hind legs are highly bowed outwards from the body, giving these most unusual avians a semi-sprawling stance. They are small, sluggish creatures which feed on plants - the specific vegetation varying with the species. And they are cold-blooded, wholly unable to maintain their own body temperature and reliant on their external environment to keep warm or to cool down. They are of course the descendants of the mucks of the early Thermocene, arboreal scale-birds which evolved in the jungles near the equator of Serina's western supercontinent. These birds presumably reached the Kyran islands many hundreds of miles offshore from their ancestral home by rafting, perhaps on large mats of fallen trees and other vegetation carried down rivers and into the sea by tropical storms. Aided by their slowed metabolism, and likely able to graze on their rafts even as they blew across the open sea, the scale-birds would prove highly successful colonists when some, by luck, reached the eastern shores of the Kyrans approximately 35 million years ago. They would find abundant tropical vegetation, fewer predators than upon the mainland, and an equable tropical climate that varied little throughout the year. Some would remain tied to the trees, as capable arboreal climbers that browsed the highest leaves and shoots in the jungle canopy. Others, however, would broaden their diets to ground vegetation, and from there, to waterside plants. Today, one of the most abundant scale-birds on the Kyran islands is the maritime muck, a very aberrant bird which has come to both behave, and closely resemble, the marine iguana of Earth's Galapagos islands.

The maritime muck.

Like marine iguanas, maritime mucks have specialized to feed almost completely on the algae which grows in abundance on the rocky coasts of the Kyran islands, where currents bring rich nutrients to the islands' shores. The wings of the maritime muck are broadened into paddles useful for propelling them though the water but retain their large claws to pull themselves up the stony sea cliffs they dwell on, while the hind legs are large and powerful to grip the slippery algae-covered rocks both above and below the surf. Growing up to thirty pounds but maturing slowly, only adults, mostly males, of several years of age carry sufficient mass to be able to dive underwater to graze without immediately becoming chilled, the youngsters and smaller adult females only feeding on algae exposed during low tide at the edges of the sea. Maritime mucks crop most of their food by turning their heads sideways and scraping low-growing algae directly from the rock faces, either above or below water, with the serrated edges of their bills which form a clean cutting edge, though will opportunistically browse on free-floating algae and similar flora as well such as the kelp-like seaweeds abundant along the sea coasts which grow to great length up from the sea floor with winding leaves and tendrils. These latter food sources provide more nutrition and are much more easily consumed, but are more difficult to reach for all but the largest and most powerful swimmers, except in cases where storms may wash large quantities of seaweeds onto the shore, attracting huge mobs of the birds both small and large which gather to gorge on the windfall of salad.

To best aid in absorbing solar energy and warming themselves as quickly as possible after spending time in the cool water of the sea, the maritime muck is invariably a dark gray or brown color, dotted with patches of green and, in mature adult males, purple iridescence along the head and neck. Young are often darker than adults, for it is even more imperative they warm quickly due to their small sizes, and indeed hatchlings, which are totally independent from the time they leave their eggs, are often completely black in coloration. This coloring also aids in providing them camouflage against the dark rocks of their habitat. Maritime mucks, like all scale-birds, practice no parental care and bury their eggs in soft sand near the sea coast, using the sun's heat to incubate them. As with other animals that follow this parental method, the young usually hatch simultaneously and must run a gauntlet of predators - which on the Kyrans include taakareweras (especially the lank), seabirds, and large terrestrial crabs - before reaching the relative safety of the rocky sea shore.

Though they will never recognize their parents, the young mucks will associate closely with the adults for protection, often resting on their backs, which their strictly herbivorous elders seem to mind little if at all. The maritime muck is indeed the most social of all its kin, living in colonies numbering in the millions across the shores of the Kyrans. At first this might seem simply to be unintentional response in a normally solitary animal to a large food source that must be shared in order to be accessed, but the creatures also behave in ways which suggest an intentionally social aspect to their behavior has evolved that is absent in their ancestors or close relatives in order to best survive and glean the riches of their rather harsh and very unconventional habitat. Maritime mucks are frequently seen roosting in huge colonies on high cliffs at night, huddled to conserve their body heat, and alert one another to the approach of predators with several distinct alarm calls, a different one each for a marine, terrestrial, or volant threat. In response to a sea predator such as a swordwhale or a porporant, the birds emit a deep, raspy bark which is more easily heard underwater and which causes the entire colony to flee the water in a panic, scrambling up the rocks and to a high point above the crashing surf where they gather and turn to face the threat, keeping a watch until it appears to have moved on. Threats from land or air are announced with higher-pitched screeches and are escaped from by dashing into the sea. If caught on open ground, the maritime muck is highly vulnerable, unable to run quickly, and can only hiss and attempt to claw its attacker. If cornered in a rocky area, however, the muck can often very successfully escape into a crevice and exert enough force against the walls of its hiding place with its wings and arms that even a very determined predator will have a hard time pulling it out. While able to swim, the muck is not agile in the water, and is perhaps most vulnerable when crossing expanses of open water between rocky islets to reach food sources, another reason only the very largest individuals will leave the safety of the shoreline.