Tatoa
A wormy caterpillar-like wildlife found on Cauven, though has been seen as introduced or replanted across a few worlds, found on Plokahn, Konoben, Eldaras, and Cylonis as well where vyllk have migrated to. They get up to roughly as long as 265mm, and are often a dark blue in color. However mauve, forest green, clay, and chartreus colors are also found. They are known to burrow in, and eat at plant roots, and carry the young up to eat at the leaves. They are a farmer's pest, but also beloved as a delicious meal across a wide vyllk majority - like their ryclin peers, its not rare for some vyllk to raise crops specifically to breed and eat tatoa the way ryclin would garden to catch prey.
Basic Information
Genetics and Reproduction
The species is parthenogenetic, able to copy itself, and reproduces akin to aphids wherein the habit of doing so may be instilled and ongoing in a 'female' even as soon as its born. As such they can multiply rapidly, especially when fed grain well. However they also lay dormant eggs that have a scent males follow and fertilize, often seeking and hatching them in the warmer months of their climate. These eggs themselves look a bit like tiny seeds or rice kernels, and are often found a little under the surface or attached to crop roots.
Growth Rate & Stages
They start at the size of a small earthworm. In a couple days they grow, and their membrane stretches until it tears and makes a new skin that starts to harden. They have one phase of actually shedding a fuller and harder skin. They will reach the size of two and a half human index fingers, or roughly between 235-260mm, and have a more hardened skin that can easily burrow through ground, and in some instances even chew through softer fiber wall materials.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Their primary use especially around vyllk society, is served as food. Since old history they have outright been eaten raw, some even straight out the ground. However in more developed cases they have also been grilled, baked, and even curled and deep-fried. Their flavor is considered a great profile between chicken and beef, with a juicy medium-rare steak body in the middle and a crunchy outside. Their rich protein, fat, and iron properties makes them nutrient dense, and useful in both balanced sparrow diets as a single serve meal or 'protein worm bar', or one of the most natural ways to quickly put weight on qhsoolum by simply applying heavier portions or coating it with sugared glaze.
Their shells or skins are also sometimes collected, especially mauve and green types. Its not uncommon to see the skins preserved and strung in laces, or made as bracelets. Tatoa are farmed with special gardener boxes that have a large contained mass of soil, and loaded with deep-rooted weeds (often enriched to produce bigger or quicker growing bugs). The insects infest these very quickly, but can be uprooted with the vegetation, and its easy to isolate and multiply ideal colors. However their are other predators to watch out for, especially if these planted lots are kept outdoors. Most other species are disgusted with this staple cuisine, with a prominent exception in the asuan community and the experimental chefs on Eldaras (and of course, ryclin who may only complain of the prey's meek size).
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