Lluma

Lluma were a species of grazing amphibians that were native to the planet Nyriaan and used as a staple food. Scientists were interested in how lluma herds apparently followed the paths of tempests.
==Biology and appearance==
Lluma were a species of creatures native to the planet Nyriaan. The large amphibians had four long knobby legs with four-toed feet, a short tail, and a long curved neck. Their slimy gray-brown hides had two lines of green, pulsing bioluminescent spots that began behind their bulbous eyes and progressed down either side of their spines. The diet of the herbivorous species consisted of the many varieties of fungi on Nyriaan, which they grazed upon as they roamed.
==Behavior==
As herd animals, lluma lived in groups that usually consisted of twenty individuals, with larger herds of up to two hundred in the equatorial regions of Nyriaan. They were hermaphroditic creatures that became different genders depending on the herd's composition and the season. A herd was typically around 80% neutral individuals, about 20% fertile female cows, and one male bull; larger herds sometimes had multiple bulls. The cows continually mated with the bull, then carried their fertilized eggs in large pouches until they hatched. Neutral lluma seemed to fulfill a protective role by surrounding cows and bulls while the herd traveled.
Nyriaan was subjected to violent storms and lluma herds seemed to travel based on the paths of prior tempests, sometimes changing directions when their route intersected the path of another tempest. Their apparent navigational methods drew the interest of biologists and other scientists who researched lluma behavior in the hopes of predicting future storms.
Lluma were sometimes preyed upon by chlovi cats, the top predator in the Nyriaan food-chain. They were also considered a staple food among various groups of colonists and settlers who considered them delicious, resulting in some of the smaller lluma herds being hunted to death.
==Sources==
*Galaxy of Intrigue
==Notes and references==
Category:Amphibians
Category:Creatures of Nyriaan
Category:Food creatures
Category:Herbivorous creatures
Category:Herd and pack creatures
Category:Hermaphroditic creatures
Category:Species of undefined sentience