These large four-legged creatures have a smooth skin in shades of grey or beige. A spiny crest along the back contains air sacs used for breathing.
Beach combers roam sandy flood plains and ocean shorelines. At high tide, they forage in water while breathing through the air sacs in their crest. Occasionally, a beach comber will float far offshore, using its lungs to stay buoyant while filtering food suspended in the water.
Beach combers are omnivorous, eating a wide range of small organisms living in the sand or water. A hollow, cylindrical tongue acts as a straw to suck food into the mouth. Undulating protuberances line the inner tube of their tongues, enabling beach combers to filter out sand while sweeping food into their throats. A beach comber can sift through an area of 200 square feet per day.
Beach combers are hermaphroditic, meaning that all individuals produce sperm and eggs. Unlike other hermaphrodites from Phygaris, beach combers function as either a male or a female depending on their age. All beach combers begin adulthood producing only sperm, but transition to producing primarily eggs later in life. In some cases, an individual either continues to produce sperm or never produces eggs. When a beach comber has mature eggs to fertilize, the marking on its crest becomes brighter and bolder, presumably signaling a desire to mate with beach combers carrying sperm. About 150 days after mating, a beach comber will give birth to one to three babies. Young beach combers remain with their parent for about a year.
Each beach comber has a unique pattern of tan and black markings on its crest, which are used to identify individuals in the Intergalactic Wildlife Sanctuary.