After doing some further exploration, I was unable to find a specimen with the Ancient zooid that I was looking for.
However...
I have managed to get a hold of the DNA sequence of the zooid from an old fossil!
Known as the Grabber, its name alludes to its function: It acts as a biological grappling hook!
With much excitement, I decided to have my first foray into gene-editing, and "injected" the sequencing into an existing specimen that had a remarkably similar attack mechanism to the previous siphonophore I showcased (i.e. the post just above this one), allowing it to grow the zooid.
![](https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzE2NTQ4MDIucG5n/original/SGjALf.png)
The above image shows its initial form, moments after the extracted sequence was injected.
A few hours after the gene therapy (and after leaving the specimen in the Free-Roam area), this was what it looked like:
Not only has the specimen grown to a considerable size, but it decided to incorporate the "pusher spike launch" method onto the Grabbers as well!
The grappling distance of this thing is absurd:
Those Grabber hooks can easily reach outside of its field-of-view, allowing it to cause all sorts of chaos: Preventing enemies from escaping, dragging in unexpected obstacles (i.e. spike balls), etc.
Even without the use of the Grabbers, its large array of Pusher-launched Spikes create a large "area of death" around it, and its front-facing array is strong enough to chew up Frakir* specimens with ease!
Of course, this menace needs a nickname, and I've decided to keep it simple this time:
Whiplash.
* The following image shows an approximate reconstruction of a Frakir specimen, which was the result of a mutated Cra'than (the original Frakir is an Advena):