Ive made high-colour graphics for y'all, even though it takes a few seconds longer to upload on my 56K, hope you appreciate it
@Mauritania, your creatures’ genes are not how you keep posting them. Please check the stats. I have made changes compared to what you originally posted, going back a couple of updates now (im trying to keep it fairly simple).
@Everyone, just because a creature evolves weapons doesn’t mean it can start acting as a meat eater. You cannot gain energy from other creatures without some kind of specialised flesh-eating gene or a ‘complex stomach’ gene. And note, these genes cover digestion only (getting energy from it), not how you actually catch/defeat the prey in the first place. The two things are separate.
@~Darkening~, I gave your creature a separate ‘Jaws’ gene, because flesh-eating is about digestion which didn’t seem to be what you wanted. Also please note that you can’t change the stats of an existing species, its genes stay the same until it goes extinct. Ive made a new ‘Calzone Evolved’ species.
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Era 4: The Skelospikous Era
This era is named after the fossils of ‘
SkeloSpike’ that began to accumulate on the seabed. This creature was quietly surviving and evolving in scattered parts of the ocean. It didn’t look like much, but the skeleton idea had great potential for the future.
Things were still tough for predators. There were too many predator species chasing too little easy prey – prey that was becomming better armed, more poisonous and more alert.
The ancient Blobster finally went extinct.
Wavy replaced the Wriggly and added eyesight in addition to the ability to escape into deeper waters. Wavy was simply too difficult to catch. The only predator with any chance was the
Tentaspasm. The large swarms of Wavy’s meant the occasional one would get trapped in its stinging tentacles. Tentaspasm had advantages in other areas - its improved stomach (the most advanced at this time) made even the poisonous and spiky species more viable as a meal. Still, the lack of senses did not help it. Its numbers remained relatively low.
iSucky survived in slightly larger numbers. Slimes became an ever-larger part of their diet. This didn’t provide much energy (and thus didn’t lead to large populations). Despite their eyesight, the iSuckys lacked the weapons and speed to tackle the latest prey species.
Huntrex lingered on the verge of extinction, as its weapons were often outmatched by its prey, and it had no advantage in speed or senses.
Flapper was in decline for similar reasons, despite being the most efficient long-range swimmer in existence at this time.
Calzone Evolved featured the first pair of real jaws, which were more practical for biting flesh, unlike the more dangerous (but more clumsy) fangs of other species. But with no developed senses and no speed advantage, it was struggling just as much as the other predators.
Things on land became too tough for the Tideblob. The seashore was full of spiky, acidic, mobile
Urchins, as well as their predecessors the Slimeotron Deslover (which had some advantages due to its simplicity, and lived alongside the Urchins). With no benefit from being amphibious, and tough competition underwater, the Tideblob went extinct. The shore belonged to the Urchins now. Would anything else ever crawl out of the waters to challenge them?
Meanwhile, the seafloor duel between the main branches of the creepy-crawly family ended with the appearance of claws. These weapons were carried by the
Diddler (which replaced its ancestor the Dumber). Diddler was able to bully Dibblenipon (the main rival) away from the best feeding spots. Diddler’s ancestors had previously copied the same complex stomach of their rivals. Dibblenipon’s only remaining advantage was the ability to scavenge from dead things, however it was out-competed for this by the
Scuteryte (the first crawler to be semi-sociable and share food with its friends) and Dibbler (the original basic crawler, which still survived after all these millions of years), both of which were dedicated scavengers.
So, Dibblenipon went extinct, bringing to a close a long line of successful crawler species. Diddler’s branch of the evolutionary tree was the victor. Scuterytes were also doing rather well with their food-sharing tactic (and they had the shells to stand up to Diggler’s claws).
Slimeotron MkIII was in decline as Bubble Slimeo began to take over.
Spongita Carnivorita survived in dangerously small numbers.
Cryoalgae was untroubled in the cold seas. Vast carpets of them were now in existence.
The following evolutions have not been mentioned yet. These replaced their older incarnations:
Biter’s fangs gave a defensive advantage over the Hunter.
Jim2‘s piercing spikes helped it to replace the original Seaworm Jim.
Nitros Novicus could out-smell its ancestors. This was useful to find those tasty minerals and avoid predators.
Random NPC evolution:
Coneworm evolved from Seaworm Jim before it went extinct. This was a slightly-poisonous worm in a hard shell. It was as difficult to eat as most other prey creatures at this time.
Warm Shallows:
Cold Shallows:
Open Ocean:
Land:
Species Stats: (please check before evolving etc)
*Stats post link*
Bonuses:
Urchin gets a bonus.
TerrisH has +1 gene allowed for next evolution.
Bubble Slimeo is doing well.
Abaddon +1 gene bonus also.
An innovation bonus to
erez87 for the SkeloSpike and its proto-skeleton. +1 gene (BTW erez, if you didn't know, this creature is still immobile as it has no genes for movement!)
The wavy is thriving, but has little to threaten it, and thus its evolution is stagnating. But
North King’s story really deserves rewarding, so another +1 gene bonus it is.
Niklas still has a +1 gene bonus saved up.
)
You said you wouldn't update today, hence I didn't rush it... 
Its OK... I guess. But I won't get yet another extra gene to add for that update then, will I?
