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Description
35 miles off the eastern coast of Ferus, a majestic Rose-bellied Umbul and a Greater Oceanic Whitetipped Foon come together in brief passing as they follow the shoals of fish which feed them both.

Umbuls, in their great diversity, are the south-Sheatherian analogues to whales, but are actually anurans of Ranamonarchid descent. Swimming with powerful palpitations of either two-pronged fluke, their hoptoad ancestry becomes clear when one realizes that their small dorsal fin is in fact their tail, and what appears to be their tail is in fact their two conjoined hind limbs, which are fuzed at the ankle. By pulling its flukes in and out rhythmically, the Umbuls can move at great speed with minimal energy expenditure, in similar - albeit highly derived - manner to basal frogs.

The Foons also descend from bipeds, but they are in fact mammals. Derived from beach-combing, bird-like rodents distantly related to northern Tyrannorats, they long ago lost their forelimbs, but today get by just fine with their large, paddled hinds alone. With no forelimbs to speak of, and back feet positioned at the complete rear end of the body, Foons find terrestrial locomotion very awkward, but fortunately, unlike convergently similar loons and other water birds, as live-bearers they never have to leave it and with the exception of several basal inland forms are entirely marine.

Description
35 miles off the eastern coast of Ferus, a majestic Rose-bellied Umbul and a Greater Oceanic Whitetipped Foon come together in brief passing as they follow the shoals of fish which feed them both.

Umbuls, in their great diversity, are the south-Sheatherian analogues to whales, but are actually anurans of Ranamonarchid descent. Swimming with powerful palpitations of either two-pronged fluke, their hoptoad ancestry becomes clear when one realizes that their small dorsal fin is in fact their tail, and what appears to be their tail is in fact their two conjoined hind limbs, which are fuzed at the ankle. By pulling its flukes in and out rhythmically, the Umbuls can move at great speed with minimal energy expenditure, in similar - albeit highly derived - manner to basal frogs.

The Foons also descend from bipeds, but they are in fact mammals. Derived from beach-combing, bird-like rodents distantly related to northern Tyrannorats, they long ago lost their forelimbs, but today get by just fine with their large, paddled hinds alone. With no forelimbs to speak of, and back feet positioned at the complete rear end of the body, Foons find terrestrial locomotion very awkward, but fortunately, unlike convergently similar loons and other water birds, as live-bearers they never have to leave it and with the exception of several basal inland forms are entirely marine.