Sac-Back

They are one of the few notable exceptions of Darwin IV creatures to not be hermaphroditic. They also have one of the more bizarre procreation rituals on the planet. Protruding from the level surface of a beach near the Amoebic Sea will be groups of half a dozen budlike forms. They are meter-high, semi-rigid stalks surmounted by horny, beaklike "mouths," each of which open at regular intervals to exhale a cloud of steamy air. Adjacent to each stalk is a thinner, more flexible, tentacle, which writhes in constant motion. Each tentacle is terminated by a broad, flattened "hand" which looks quite dexterous. The stalks will twitch, the mouths will open, the arms occasionally flick some small, unwary creature into the mouth - and that is all. With a low frequency pinging, a sac-back will head for these locations. they are a bulky, red creature with a stalk, mouth, and tentacles similar to those protruding from the ground. The beast is named the sac-back for they carry on their broad back a large transparent sac filled with colorless fluid. With each lumbering step this sac wobbles and the small, beaky mouth puffs out vapor. The creature seems to be laboring under their heavy burden. The ungainly animal slowly humps themself over to a stalk and settles above them. The great beast aligns their stalk with the one beneath them and reaches out. With the most sensitive caresses, the two "hands" touch as if greeting, stroke and then clasp each other.