Marmoracelyphus: armoured intertidal grazer and scavenger.
Genetic diversity: moderate (hermaphrodite).
Description: small animal with radial symmetry, a thick protective shell, numerous muscular legs capable of short bursts of speed or efficient long-distance crawling, basic olfactory sense, resistance to mild toxins, and a central mouth with teeth optimised for scraping, opening to a compact digestive tract.
Maymarnaylus: armoured bottom feeder.
Ancestor Species: Marmoracelyphus
Selective Pressure: small amounts of meat and great numbers of SAV's
Primary Mutation: large mouth to scrape the ocean of vegetation.this provides for larger meals and greater bottom feeding and cleaning of the ocean floor. however this has it's down side if they get to big.
Secondary Mutation: sharp, spike-like legs for crawling that can act as a defense against predators if climbed over. these are very sharp and can penetrate most non-armoured animals
Marmoracelyphus: armoured intertidal grazer and scavenger.
Genetic diversity: moderate (hermaphrodite).
Description: small animal with radial symmetry, a thick protective shell, numerous muscular legs capable of short bursts of speed or efficient long-distance crawling, basic olfactory sense, resistance to mild toxins, and a central mouth with teeth optimised for scraping, opening to a compact digestive tract.
Maymarnaylus: armoured bottom feeder.
Ancestor Species: Marmoracelyphus
Selective Pressure: small amounts of meat and great numbers of SAV's
Primary Mutation: large mouth to scrape the ocean of vegetation and a strongly interlined sense of sight, touch, and taste.
Secondary Mutation: sharp, spike-like legs for crawling that can act as a defense against predators if climbed over.
@MaDaro, I took the liberty of writing up your evolution the 'official' way:
Species: Hommorapro
Ancestor Species: Mikri-Oura
Selective Pressure: being eaten by Fossornids
Primary Mutation: primitive gills and body fluid circulation, adapted from feeding cilia in the larval stage, and retained into adulthood. Provides for faster metabolism, faster growth rates and more rapid movement to escape predators.
Secondary Mutation: if threatened by a large predator, it will let out a spray of poisonous fluid
*You didn't set a selective pressure (it should basically be a problem, for which your mutation is a solution) and you haven't given a reason why lungs are needed. Mikri-Oura do not even have gills or circulation systems as such, so someone needs to start off with the basics ^^
@MaDaro, I took the liberty of writing up your evolution the 'official' way:
Species: Hommorapro
Ancestor Species: Mikri-Oura
Selective Pressure: being eaten by Fossornids
Primary Mutation: primitive gills and body fluid circulation, adapted from feeding cilia in the larval stage, and retained into adulthood. Provides for faster metabolism, faster growth rates and more rapid movement to escape predators.
Secondary Mutation: if threatened by a large predator, it will let out a spray of poisonous fluid
*You didn't set a selective pressure (it should basically be a problem, for which your mutation is a solution) and you haven't given a reason why lungs are needed. Mikri-Oura do not even have gills or circulation systems as such, so someone needs to start off with the basics ^^
Species Name: Textuleto (The Webbed Killer)
Ancestor Species: Servoleto
Selective Pressure: Intense competition amongst Fossornids has forced continued diversification and niche specialization, as various Fossornids adopt to specialized predatory roles to avoid such intense pressures.
Primary Mutation: The predatory harpoons of the Testuleto contain glands that produce a sticky protein, which can ensnare prey.
Secondary Mutation(s): The jaws of the Testuleto have become less capable of chewing on large prey, but now perform a structural role, forming the outer edge of the feeding apparatus. The harpoons of the Testuleto have become more stiffened and muscular, so that they can better weave and maintain a predatory mesh as the organism swims through the water. Also, due to the new feeding mode of the Testuleto, the predatory barbs at the tips of the harpoons have dramatically atrophied. Thus, they now resemble harpoons far less than they resemble feeding tentacles.
The Textuleto wanders the oceans broadly in pursuit of high-density regions of prey. Some chase tiny free-living animals and the larvae of other species, while others specialize on plankton alone. Its Fossornid body plan makes it an effective swimmer, while its feeding apparatus makes it into one of the world's first large filter feeders.
Many millions of years after the end-Legonian event, life was just beginning to recover its former diversity. But the warming trend of the Foramic era continued, driven by unrelenting volcanic eruptions. Soon a runaway greenhouse effect took hold, with temperatures soaring to their highest levels since complex life began. This was the long, hot and stormy period known as the Tshoathonic Era.
Life in the Tshoathonic Era faced three main challenges. First was the relative loss of vital oxygen from the oceans, driven by high ocean temperatures. Second was the battering of the vital tidal zones by truly massive storm systems, often far greater than terrestrial Hurricanes or Typhoons, regularly reshaping entire coastlines and scattering lifeforms far inland, which brings us to our third challenge: the searing temperatures often experienced on dry land, which was particularly severe for life that had only just begun to venture (again) out of water. Species that had survived the end-Legonian extinction event were again tested, and in general survived, but fortunes varied wildly.
But firstly, we venture to the north pole, which provided a unique refuge from the worst excesses. A group of mini-continents had gathered here, sheltered by a circumpolar current that tended to deflect the storm systems coming from the tropics. It maintained a pleasant temperate climate all year round, with ice only appearing on the tallest peaks during the long polar winter, if at all. An archipelago of eroded mountains sheltered a complex system of fertile freshwater lakes and flooded former-glacial valleys.
These lakes bloomed with masses of Bouncers during the long polar summers, the Bouncers able to migrate or hibernate and sink to the bottom during the long polar winters. But while the long darkness killed off any other plant colonists, it remained more than warm enough for animals; Polychende crawled among the floating mats of Bouncers, sucking nourishment from them and thriving in huge numbers. From this population evolved the Herba Morsu, with mouthparts adapted for drilling into the shrivelled-up hibernating Bouncers found on lakebeds during the winter. By the end of the era, Herba Morsu was the most successful animal in the north and had been spread - its embryos presumably carried by storms or migrating Bouncer blooms - to other landmasses as well. Solid populations of Chthon Wurm also moved among the lakes, feeding on plankton and larval Polychende, while the related Metywurm were to be found half-buried in the riverbeds, fishing for plankton and detritrus carried by the current.
These in turn supported freshwater Fossornatus, which grew to unprecended sizes - up to two metres long - in the cool, fertile waters; and incidentally were the only animals strong able to paddle their way upstream, or crawl over muddy ground to colonise new lakes, the others relying on the elements to transport their spores or larvae.
Every fall in the north, a share of the Bouncers were triggered to inflate and migrate rather than hibernate. It was a complex chemical feedback loop that changed from year to year, but inevitably, trillions of tiny Bouncers would take to the skies in a majestic spectacle, at first filling the skies above the scenic valleys before throwing themselves at the mercy of the vast storm systems that circled beyond the coasts. Most Bouncers ended up dying and falling into the sea, providing a significant boost to the fertility of the northern ocean, which maintained seasonal blooms of plants (Great-Moss, Terras and Foramus) and plankton; it was a particular stronghold of Gistantula, which preferred the oxygen content found in cooler water and, once fully grown, had the body mass to survive relative starvation during the dark winters, unlike other species - Mikri-Oura and various Fossornida - that were only migrants.
However, the vast expanse of the oceans - and the majority of the planet’s surface - had become something of a desert. While it was awash with nutrients from the rapidly-eroding landmasses, it was suddenly oxygen-poor, even down to deeper water; several deep ocean basins became completely anoxic at this time, and deep ocean circulation had all but ground to a halt. Conditions favoured the blooming of toxic microbes that consumed even more oxygen. The regular occurrence of massive storms stirred up the surface and went some way to re-oxygenating the surface layers. But in the calm between storms, almost nothing moved in the otherwise luxuriously warm water.
Rarely, clumps of semi-decayed Great-Moss and Greenmoss, bound together by parastic growths of Slimata, would be found drifting across the surface, acquiring a retinue of larval animals while they lasted; tiny islands of life in an azure desert. The benthic community was similarly sparse; typically only a few Dentembula, Magnustella and Deephunter were to be found lazily crawling along the seabed, their metabolisms and life-cycles slowed down to the bare minimum by the lack of oxygen. Singular clumps of Astercula and Aranofilius drifted through the mid-depths, only rarely able to grow into their colonial forms.
Some Astercula found a new source of nourishment; the Fytocula evolved to harness free-floating phytoplankton as a continual source of energy, capturing and cultivating it within layers of transparent spikes and needle-like feeding cells. Fytocula, like the Astercula were much closer to the ancestral protozoan Spiculidae with few cellular specialisations, but this allowed them to assume a wide variety of body forms. Individual spheres grew slowly, but could be very long-lived; as with the Astercula, few animals would attempt to eat these spiky and hard-to-digest objects.
The Foramus - able to partly burry itself in sediment - initially became the dominant form of non-drifting oceanic plant life surviving in the shallows, especially as the boundaries of the ocean became more and more eroded into sand and gravel. It was harder for Commendalia species to graze upon. The Mikri-Oura, armed with primitive ‘beaks’, were better able to graze on the buried stalks, but it was rare to find large blooms of Foramus; like many animals, Mikri-Oura were forced into precarious existence of spending lots of energy swimming in the hopes of finding their next meal.
One branch of Foramus, the Vertus, evolved a pollen-esque mechanism for exchanging genes between plants separated across large distances of the ocean, thus solving the problem of genetic bottleneck. From this, the Vertus rapidly evolved a form of mutualism with the Mikri-Oura grazers, evolving hardened spore-nodules that could survive transit through its digestive tube, with a good chance of being deposited in other spots of the seabed suitable for sea plants. It was a successful combination that saw a scattering of Vertus all across the ocean.
The Fossornida family, in the minority of animals able to gather oxygen through their gills, were able to maintain their active lifestyles, albeit far less active than before. Being at the top of the food chain, prey density was the limiting factor for them. And with their numbers reduced and dispersed, finding a mate also became a critical problem for these hermaphrodite species. Throughout most of the era, only a few specialised Servoleto subspecies prowled the open water, using their eyesight and rapid harpoon-strikes to snatch drifting Aranofilus or small larval animals; a meagre diet that prevented them growing very large. Similarly few Fossornatus prowled the seabed, sniffing out meals in the shallows or darkened depths.
Various volcanic island arcs dotted the tropics, some of them arching across the planet for thousands of kilometres; they formed beautiful and dramatic landscapes, but their coastlines were barren compared to previous eras. While they had a small population of worm-like horsehockytu, and Terras and Foramus growths throughout this era, they supported relatively little else. Aside from regular volcanic eruptions and lava flows, not to mention the venting of toxic gasses, these islands were fully exposed to raging tropical storms that regularly raked up plants and animal colonists to leave them to their deaths on the hot, rocky slopes above.
Deep ocean volcanic vents were more common during this era, but their lifespans tended to be shorter and more hazardous. This favoured the Methanovermis over the less-versatile Ardens Worm.
The only substantial break in the vast, stormy ocean circling the planet was one large continent straddling a section between the tropics. Its coastlines, already subject to huge tidal ranges due to the pull of the planet’s nearby moon, were now under constant bombardment from massive storms, rapidly eroding into either vast tidal plains or into towering coastal cliffs. A similarly sparse range of species survived along these coasts, in what had been the world’s most abundant habitat only several million years earlier. Now the whole coastline was in flux; storm surges regularly ploughed their way deep inland, and flash-floods were common, creating an inshore landscape that rapidly alternated between hypersaline lakes full of extremophile bacteria, and dry deserts blasted by a super-caustic, corrosive wind of hot grit and salt. Rain was actually common, but the flooded areas dried all too quickly in the extreme heat, with water rapidly being lost by exposed sand and gravel covering most of the surface. Deep in the centre of the continent, where little rain fell, isolated rocky basins enjoyed oven-like temperatures all year round. Unsurprisingly, no complex life was to be seen over most of this landscape.
There were exceptions, however. As a fortunate quirk of their biochemistry, some Scamper proved remarkably resilient to the hypersaline water found in inland lagoons, and their armoured bodies were able to resist caustic winds (although they often lost their eyes and antennae to the sand-blasting); stable populations were thus to be found kilometres from shore, especially where there was a trickle of oceanic detritus washed in by the storms. Some Scamper even colonised flooded cave systems far inland, grazing on bacterial mats in the near complete absence of sunlight.
The very north of the continent, a long peninsular pushing into subtropical latitudes, was a different story altogether. Here the temperatures were lower, and the cloud and rain more regular, leading to a stable, warm, marshy, albeit very stormy, freshwater environment, fertilised by the erosion of old mountains; perfect terrain for freshwater plant-forms and many forms of microbes. The whole peninsular gained a mouldy green-brown hue, in contrast to the harsh grey and orange of the southern expenses. Bouncers found another haven here, but this time they were joined by branching colonial masses of Great-Moss, some of which technically formed the largest living things ever seen on the planet - interconnected colonial masses of Great Moss could spread across kilometres of this swampy terrain, with branches venturing metres out of water onto the shores. Indeed, plant-like forms dominated this oasis; masses of Slimers thrived on the detritus and cleared up decaying excess growths; Ngarta thrived as parasites on Slimers and other plants alike. The marshes would often overgrow and become clogged with decay and harmful microbes, only to be churned up and renewed by the passing of a large storm.
But nothing had evolved the ability to grow more than a few centimetres above the water level; competition for space in these marshes was firmly on the horizontal axis. Into this battlefield was born the Tangleweed, an offshoot of the Great-Moss that grew in dense, tangled, knotted clumps, sacrificing surface area for the ability to remain anchored in place against the actions of the elements and other lifeforms alike. Although remaining relatively rare at the end of the era, it gained a solid foothold throughout these swamps, and incidentally provided useful shelter for larval animals.
Animals of note were, again, the humble Polychende and Herba Morsu, each thriving in the trillions, again stalked by Fossornatus - albeit smaller varieties than found at the north pole, being agile enough to paddle their way through the mud and entangled plant-masses in search of a meal. Versatile freshwater Metywurm, with their ability to burrow through the mud, also thrived here in great numbers; by the end of the era, they had given rise to the Tsoathonis, armed with sharp grinding teeth deep in their ‘mouths’ and a more complex digestive tract - indeed this era is named for the distinctive, enigmatic fossils of Tsoathonis teeth that appear among the carbonised remains of these swamps. Tsoathonis was not quite able to bite back at bigger and meaner Fossornatus, but this miniature swamp monster became a predator in its own right, feasting on adult Polychende in particular.
Finally, to the south pole. In contrast to the north, it lacked any major landmasses, and was subject to wandering oceanic storms; any typical day could see towering water-spouts and flashes of lightning visible somewhere on the horizon. But beneath the turbulent surface, the water did benefit from a similar concentration of oxygen and nutrients; in fact the southern summers saw the largest blooms of plankton anywhere in the oceans during this era.
Isolated southern seamounts, not quite poking above the surface, supported most of the remaining Petrosia reefs in the world, joined by blooms of sea plants and scavengers during the summer; migratory schools of Mikri-Oura grazed here, and were successful enough to diversify into new species - the Mirmaz; these creatures had true male and female genders, and had evolved both scent glands and scent receptors in order to find each other during the summer; breeding groups would descend on the seamounts, and after feeding primarily on plant growths, males would squabble for patches of sea floor in which females would lay their eggs; the hollow skeletons of old Petrosia towers were ideal for this purpose. Fossornida predators naturally took advantage of this bounty, but breeding groups of Mirimaz could be dangerous opponents with their primitive eyesight, maneuverability and beak-mouths, not to mention spiky internal skeletons; generally enough eggs survived through the dark months to continue the cycle.
Similarly the humble, ancient, versatile horsehockytu adapted to life among these seamounts, evolving into the Qua. While the Qua was a little more robust and better suited to swimming for extended periods, its main advantage was its ability to clone itself at a greater pace than its ancestors whenever enough plankton was available - adults typically dying off after producing masses of embryos from their burrows. With plankton blooms being unreliable, this strategy ultimately proved successful, and Qua numbers almost replaced horsehockytu in the south, and put extra strain on the static Petrosia reefs, with which they competed for plankton.
The availability of small, slippery larval Mirimaz and Qua spurred the co-evolution of one particular branch of Servoleto, which made an evolutionary leap to become graceful filter-feeders; the Textuleto, with mutations of their feeding harpoons into sticky, web-like structures that were able to harness blooms of larger forms of plankton and larval animals, gained a stable population by the end of the era. The Textuleto also benefited by being the only active-swimming filter-feeder able to migrate long distances between plankton blooms, although for now it still remained confined to the southern hemisphere.
While Fossornids still ruled the food chain, they and their Genocirculus cousins did not have it all their own way. One major problem was the evolution of armoured bodies amongst their prey, a trend that was accelerated by exposure to the raging elements of the time; Spiculid hunting weapons simply did not evolve to keep pace. By the end of the era, the Rentemlite had evolved from the Dentembula; equipped with an exoskeleton that provided extra protection, Rentemlites were able to scavenge in shallower water with somewhat less to fear either from Fossornids or form being stranded above water. Similarly, the Maymarnaylus evolved from the Marmoracelyphus line; the Maymarnaylus wielded fearsome spike-legs in addition to its thick shell, which proved equally useful for grounding itself in strong currents as for deterring attack, and these creatures began to appear all throughout the ocean, being virtually immune to attack once fully grown.
Thus the Daedatus, deprived of stable year-round hunting grounds and facing a lack of its favourite soft-bodied prey, in addition to competition from its more specialised relatives, dwindled into extinction by the end of the era. It was joined by the entire branch of bottom-dwelling spirulids including the bi-gender Genocirculus, and its evolved cousin the Peristalker, which had begun to emerge at the start of this era and had evolved surprisingly complex social behaviours - cultivating local sea plants and constructing defensive nests for its embryos. But with their numbers already low at the start of the era, these species found far too few safe havens that offered a stable year-round supply of plant food or enough soft-bodied prey, free from harassment by migrants such as Fossornids or Mirimaz. The invincible Maymarnaylus took over the few suitable grazing sites that were left, leaving Peristalker shells to fade into the fossil record; thus passed the last of the non-Fossornid Spirulids. Their absence marks the close of the Tshoathonic Era.
A cooling trend is noticed at the end of the era, as greenhouse gasses gradually cleared from the atmosphere and became locked under sediments. But spikes of volcanic activity contiued, and the climate remained stormy and warm compared to previous eras.
Oxygen. Few species have any kind of formal respiration or circulation system, which limits you to what you can absorb passively through your skin, and thus prevents you from growing very big. This is especially noticeable when the outside oxygen concentration dips.
There is more oxygen in the atmosphere than in the oceans right now. Freshwater systems are somewhere inbetween.
Much of the land surface consists of weathered sand and gravel. Some of it well-watered and fertile. But existing freshwater-adapted plants lack roots, and can only grow in or close to standing water. They also lack stem structures that can resist gravity (although in this planet’s thicker atmosphere, lighter-than-air buoyancy is more of an option).
Temperatures are currently temperate to tropical across most of the globe, even in the darkest winters.
Although I’ve used the term ‘egg’, no species has actually evolved any special protection for their embryos. Life is generally using a spray & pray strategy. Some species actually divide in two in order to reproduce (Aranofilus, horsehockytu).
Due to massive amounts of water erosion, there are extensive cave systems inland, some flooded with salty water, some fresh waster.
Am I freshwater or saltwater? I’m now being more strict about this in the stats and updates. In the real world, this is a biochemical divide that is not casually crossed... some types of organisms have never managed it despite many millions of years. In this NES, I will make a judgement call each turn about which species may get a ‘free’ adaptation to one or either. But when making a new evolution, you can specifically make this one of your desired traits.
Terras: static intertidal photosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: medium (cloning).
Description: stubby aquatic photosynthetic stalks with anchoring filaments and thick mucus coating to prevent desiccation during low tide.
Foramus: static intertidal photosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: medium (cloning).
Description: stubby photosynthetic stalks with anchoring filaments and thick mucus coating, that are able to partially retract below ground once they become too dry.
Vertus: static intertidal photosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: medium (asexual).
Description: stubby photosynthetic stalks with anchoring filaments, thick mucus coating, and tough-skinned germinating nodules that are able to survive the digestive tracts of animals. Genetic particles are released and absorbed by the stalks, allowing genes to be interchanged between living populations. Stalks are able to partially retract below ground once they become too dry.
Floatus
Ngarta: aquatic parasitic photosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: tiny photosynthetic mass with specialised filaments for active swimming during its planktonic stage, and nutrient leaching from hosts during its reproductive phase.
Slimata: aquatic adhesive parasitic photosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: low (cloning).
Description: tiny photosynthetic mass with specialised filaments for active swimming during its planktonic stage, and nutrient leaching from hosts during its reproductive phase. Basic adhesive coating aids attachment to host.
Greenmoss: aquatic floating poisonous photosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: buoyant photosythetic mass with limited desiccation resistance, mild defensive poison, resistance to cool temperature, ability to grow anchoring filaments, and specialised cells for mass reproduction via aquatic spores.
Great-Moss: aquatic floating poisonous photosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: buoyant photosythetic mass with limited desiccation resistance, mild defensive poison, resistance to cool temperature, ability to grow anchoring filaments, and specialised cells for mass reproduction via aquatic spores. In optimal conditions, forms interconnected clonal masses sharing nutrients and common anchor lines.
Tangleweed: freshwater photosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: low (cloning).
Description: partially-buoyant photosythetic mass with limited desiccation resistance, resistance to cool temperature, ability to grow anchoring filaments, and specialised cells for mass reproduction via aquatic spores. In optimal conditions, forms complex tangled clonal structures on lake beds.
Bubblerea
Slimer: aquatic recycler.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: tiny buoyant mass of cells with limited desiccation resistance, specialised filaments for crawling, and ability to leach nutrients from bacterial growth and decaying matter. Harnesses sunlight for certain chemical reactions.
Bouncer: hardy freshwater and airborne photosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: high (cloning/hermaphrodite).
Description: tiny buoyant photosynthetic mass with moderate desiccation resistance, ability to increase its buoyancy to become airborne in response to pheromone feedback, and ability to shrivel and hibernate in harsh conditions.
Neofilia
Aranofilius: motile colonial oceanic filter-feeder.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: small cylindrical animal with specialised extendible cilia for capturing plankton, a simple internal digestive chamber, and rear cilia for swimming. Specialised reproductive cells for rapid clonal reproduction, creating offspring initially attached to the parent.
horsehockytu: aquatic filter-feeder in sandy sediments.
Genetic diversity: high (cloning).
Description: tiny cylindrical animal with specialised extendible cilia for capturing plankton, a simple internal digestive chamber, and rear cilia for swimming and burrowing.
Qua: oceanic filter-feeder and scavenger in sandy sediments.
Genetic diversity: low (cloning).
Description: small cylindrical animal with extendible cilia for sifting and capturing food particles, a slightly more complex digestive chamber, and rear cilia for swimming and burrowing. Capable of rapidly cloning itself when enough food is available.
Mikri-Oura: versatile oceanic omnivore.
Genetic diversity: high (hermaphrodite).
Description: small tubular animal with spiny internal skeleton, muscular tail for rapid bursts of swimming and burrowing, and a basic one-way digestive tube. Extendible cilia for capturing plankton during its development stage; five primitive eyes, a primitive beak and organs for gene exchange in its reproductive phase.
Mirimaz: versatile oceanic omnivore.
Genetic diversity: moderate (sexual).
Description: small tubular animal with spiny internal skeleton, muscular tail for rapid bursts of swimming and burrowing, and a basic one-way digestive tube. Primitive scent glands and detection organs, and sexual dimorphism: females prepare egg-laying sites, males fight to fertilise them. Extendible cilia for capturing plankton during its development stage; five primitive eyes and a primitive beak in its reproductive phase.
Wurmida
Toxiwurm: aquatic shallow-water filter-feeder.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: small tubular animal with basic musculature to enable swimming and crawling out of water, limited desiccation resistance, mild poisonous nodules, extendible cilia for capturing plankton, and a simple internal digestive chamber.
Metywurm: freshwater sediment filter-feeder.
Genetic diversity: very low (cloning).
Description: small tubular animal with musculature to enable swimming, burrowing and crawling out of water, limited desiccation resistance, mild poisonous nodules, extendible cilia for capturing plankton and digging into sediment, and a simple internal digestive chamber.
Chthon Wurm: coastal and freshwater, filter-feeder and minor predator.
Genetic diversity: very low (cloning).
Description: small tubular animal with musculature to enable swimming and crawling out of water, limited desiccation resistance, mild poisonous nodules. Larvae have extendible cilia for capturing plankton, adults develop four flexible limbs for capturing larger food particles. Toothless mouth/anus opens into a simple internal digestive chamber.
Tsoathonis: coastal and freshwater, filter-feeder and minor predator.
Genetic diversity: very low (cloning).
Description: small tubular animal with musculature to enable swimming and crawling out of water, limited desiccation resistance, mild poisonous nodules. Mouth lined with sensitive cilia for capturing plankton, adults develop four flexible limbs for capturing larger food particles and lined with primitive teeth. Mouth opens onto a simple one-way digestive tract.
Petrosidae
Umbrafugis: motile oceanic filter-feeder.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning/hermaphrodite).
Description: small cylindrical animal with a porous bony framework, thin fleshy cuticle, specialised internal reproductive organs, multiple primitive eye-spots, and multiple large sweeping limbs. Limbs have a mixture of specialised cilia branches, used both for swimming and for trapping plankton, with small digestive chambers at the base of each limb.
Lapis Vivius: sessile oceanic filter-feeder.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning/hermaphrodite).
Description: small cylindrical animal with a porous bony framework, thin fleshy cuticle, specialised internal reproductive organs, and multiple large sweeping limbs. Motile larvae, guided by primitive eye-spots, develop into blind sessile adults that lack a strict body plan. Limbs have a mixture of specialised cilia branches with small digestive chambers at the base of each limb. Adults develop further tendrils to leach minerals and nutrients from the surroundings.
Soleneidea
Ardens Worm: static deep ocean chemeosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning/hermaphrodite).
Description: small tubular animal with multi-branched tail used for swimming in its plantonic stage, and to burrow and provide anchorage in its adult stage; internal chambers nurture chemosynthetic bacteria using nutrients absorbed directly from volcanic vents and seeps on the seafloor. Resistant to extreme pressure and high temperature.
Methanovermis: motile deep ocean chemeosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning/hermaphrodite).
Description: small tubular animal with segmented body capable of crawling and burrowing into soft sediment; internal chambers nurture chemosynthetic bacteria using nutrients absorbed from sediment around volcanic vents and seeps on the seafloor. Armed with primitive jaws for defense. Resistant to extreme pressure and extreme temperature ranges.
Commendalia
Deephunter: mid-deep ocean scavenger and opportunist.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: small animal with radial symmetry, numerous legs capable of short bursts of speed or efficient long-distance crawling, and a central mouth with sharp teeth opening to a compact digestive tract. Resistant to extreme pressure and extreme temperature ranges.
Polychende: amphibious plant sucker and scavenger.
Genetic diversity: high (hermaphrodite).
Description: simple segmented animal with bilateral symmetry, buoyant developmental stage, 6-10 stumpy legs in adult stage, thick flexible skin with limited desiccation resistance, extendible sucking proboscis and simple internal digestive tract.
Herba Morsu: amphibious herbivore and scavenger.
Genetic diversity: low (hermaphrodite).
Description: simple segmented animal with bilateral symmetry, buoyant developmental stage, 6-10 stumpy legs in adult stage, thick flexible skin with limited desiccation resistance and simple internal digestive tract able to process plant matter. Feeding proboscis adapted with a ring of tiny scissor-jaws to enable sucking up larger chunks of food.
Marmoracelyphus: armoured intertidal grazer and scavenger.
Genetic diversity: moderate (hermaphrodite).
Description: small animal with radial symmetry, a thick protective shell, numerous muscular legs capable of short bursts of speed or efficient long-distance crawling, basic olfactory sense, resistance to mild toxins, and a central mouth with teeth optimised for scraping, opening to a compact digestive tract.
Maymarnaylus: armoured intertidal grazer and scavenger.
Genetic diversity: low (hermaphrodite).
Description: small animal with radial symmetry, a thick protective shell, numerous hardened spike-legs that double as a defensive weapon, basic olfactory sense, resistance to mild toxins, and a large central mouth with teeth-plates optimised for scraping up food from the sea floor, opening to a compact digestive tract.
Scamper: armoured salt-water coastal scavenger.
Genetic diversity: moderate (hermaphrodite).
Description: small animal with radial symmetry, a thick protective shell, numerous muscular legs capable of short bursts of speed or efficient long-distance crawling, basic olfactory sense, very primitive 360-degree vision, resistance to mild toxins, limited ability to maintain internal moisture on land, and a central mouth with teeth optimised for scraping, opening to a compact digestive tract.
Dentembula: aquatic sediment scavenger.
Genetic diversity: high (hermaphrodite).
Description: small animal with radial symmetry, numerous muscular legs capable of burrowing into soft sediment, short bursts of speed or efficient long-distance crawling; sensitive olfactory antennae, resistance to cold water, and a central mouth with sharp teeth, opening to a compact digestive tract optimised for handling decomposing matter.
Rentemlite: oceanic sediment scavenger.
Genetic diversity: moderate (hermaphrodite).
Description: small animal with radial symmetry, basic protective and supportive exoskeleton; numerous muscular legs capable of burrowing into soft sediment, short bursts of speed or efficient long-distance crawling; sensitive olfactory antennae, resistance to cold water, and a central mouth with sharp teeth, opening to a compact digestive tract optimised for handling decomposing matter.
Oreillia
Magnustella: aquatic and intertidal grazer, armoured all-consuming blob.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: small-medium animal with radial symmetry, partial buoyancy, basic olfactory sense, and a large motile fringe used for crawling, to enhance oxygen absorption, and aid external digestion. Thick flexible skin for protection, digestive juices can also be used as a defensive weapon.
Gistantula : aquatic and intertidal grazer, armoured all-consuming blob.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: small-medium animal with radial symmetry, partial buoyancy, basic olfactory sense, basic circulatory system, and a large motile fringe used for crawling, to enhance oxygen absorption, and aid external digestion. Thick flexible skin covered with calcite scales for protection, digestive juices can also be used as a defensive weapon.
Spiculidae
Astercula: oceanic colonial floating spikeball, grazer and planktivore.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: tiny-small animal with spherical symmetry; a matrix of feeding spikes of various sizes surrounds specialised digestive, buoyancy and reproductive cells. A few spikes provide basic olfactory sense; others become enlarged hooks to interlink individuals or enable passive transport via floating vegetation or other animals.
Fytocula: oceanic colonial floating planktivore and cultivator of symbiotic unicellular algae.
Genetic diversity: low (cloning).
Description: tiny-small animal with spherical symmetry; a matrix of feeding spikes of various sizes surrounds a layer of entrapped phytoplankton, with a core of specialised buoyancy and reproductive cells. A few spikes provide basic olfactory sense.
Fossornida
Fossornatus: oceanic predator and general opportunist
Genetic diversity: high (hermaphrodite).
Description: small-medium animal with highly-adapted spiral symmetry, covered by a thin lightweight spiky shell. 6 pairs of manoeuvrable swimming paddles, buoyancy bladder, basic jaws lined with grasping teeth, basic vibration and olfactory senses, forward-facing harpoons to aid prey capture and movement. Basic gill structure and circulatory system. Full but basic digestive tract, basic reproductive organs.
Servoleto: selective oceanic predator and opportunist - chases moving prey
Genetic diversity: moderate (hermaphrodite).
Description: small-medium animal with highly-adapted spiral symmetry, covered by a thin lightweight shell. 6 pairs of manoeuvrable swimming paddles, buoyancy bladder, basic jaws lined with grasping teeth, basic vibration and olfactory senses, basic binocular vision-spirals guiding harpoons specialised for prey capture. Basic gill structure and circulatory system. Full but basic digestive tract, basic reproductive organs.
Textuleto: active oceanic filter-feeder
Genetic diversity: low (hermaphrodite).
Description: small-medium animal with highly-adapted spiral symmetry, covered by a thin lightweight shell. 6 pairs of manoeuvrable swimming paddles, buoyancy bladder, basic vibration and olfactory senses, and basic binocular vision-spirals. Basic gill structure and circulatory system. Full but basic digestive tract, basic reproductive organs. Adapted 'harpoons' produce mucus to trap plankton or tiny animals as the Textuleto swims; jaws adapted as supports for mucus 'web'.
Mirimaz: versatile oceanic omnivore.
Genetic diversity: moderate (sexual).
Description: small tubular animal with spiny internal skeleton, muscular tail for rapid bursts of swimming and burrowing, and a basic one-way digestive tube. Primitive scent glands and detection organs, and sexual dimorphism: females prepare egg-laying sites, males fight to fertilise them. Extendible cilia for capturing plankton during its development stage; five primitive eyes and a primitive beak in its reproductive phase.
Species: Mirimazdur
Ancestor Species: Mirimaz
Selective Pressure: Predation by Fossornids
Primary Mutation: primitive gills and body fluid circulation, adapted as part of the digestive tube. Provides for faster metabolism, faster growth rates and more rapid movement to escape predators.
Secondary Mutation: Increased socialization, where females share egglaying fields and share "guard duty" over them.
Textuleto: active oceanic filter-feeder
Genetic diversity: low (hermaphrodite).
Description: small-medium animal with highly-adapted spiral symmetry, covered by a thin lightweight shell. 6 pairs of manoeuvrable swimming paddles, buoyancy bladder, basic vibration and olfactory senses, and basic binocular vision-spirals. Basic gill structure and circulatory system. Full but basic digestive tract, basic reproductive organs. Adapted 'harpoons' produce mucus to trap plankton or tiny animals as the Textuleto swims; jaws adapted as supports for mucus 'web'.
Species: Textmessage
Selective Pressure: increased competition for plankton
Primary Mutation: Swimming "paddles" merge to form 2 large basic pectoral fins, 2 smaller basic pelvic fins. This is to allow more efficient use of energy while swimming alongside quicker turning times.
Secondary Mutation: Improved energy storage in the form of better placed and larger fat deposits to allow the Textmessage to cross great distances for plankton without dying of starvation if an area becomes overfished
Slimer: aquatic recycler.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: tiny buoyant mass of cells with limited desiccation resistance, specialised filaments for crawling, and ability to leach nutrients from bacterial growth and decaying matter. Harnesses sunlight for certain chemical reactions.
Species: Latcher
Ancestor Species: Slimer
Selective Pressure: Abundance of filter-feeders, competition for food
Primary Mutation: Taking quite a step away from the Slimer's nature to eat bacterial growth and decaying matter, the Latcher takes advantage of the high normal of filter-feeders, taking the role of a parasitic organism. Converting itself to feed on a host, the Latcher will allow itself to be taken in by the filter-feeder, using it's filaments to latch itself within the host's feeding apparatus.
Secondary Mutation: The Latcher will develop its filaments to provide for better grip within their hosts, with primitive hook-like structures used to latch in.
Tangleweed: freshwater photosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: low (cloning).
Description: partially-buoyant photosythetic mass with limited desiccation resistance, resistance to cool temperature, ability to grow anchoring filaments, and specialised cells for mass reproduction via aquatic spores. In optimal conditions, forms complex tangled clonal structures on lake beds.
Species: Spreader
Ancestor Species: Tangleweed
Selective Pressure: Spreading the species
Primary Mutation: A combination of chemicals gives off strong scents that attracts other species to eat the spores of the plants and spread the species around.
Secondary Mutation: Larger structures that are responsible for the production of reproductive seeds instead of just cells.
Great-Moss: aquatic floating poisonous photosynthesiser.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: buoyant photosythetic mass with limited desiccation resistance, mild defensive poison, resistance to cool temperature, ability to grow anchoring filaments, and specialised cells for mass reproduction via aquatic spores. In optimal conditions, forms interconnected clonal masses sharing nutrients and common anchor lines.
Species: Stick Moss
Ancestor Species: Great moss
Selective pressure: compitition with other great moss and tangleweed, defense against some prede
Primary mutation: Ability to form a harden tube around anchor lines and in the case of some of the larger colonies, project small clusters of mass above the water/shore line
Seconday mutations: ability to drive harden tubes into the ground, to better anchor the great-moss clusters in place both below and above the water line.
Harden tubes: each tube is only an few cm long. small gaps between the tubes still allow the anchor lines to pivot and bend. they are also fairly hollow and living cells fill them.
Larger colonies even achieve a bit more measure of height due to them.
Secondary mutation is, well, a crude form of roots. not sure if it would be to much to include it with the primary mutation, so put it in the secondary.
Gistantula : aquatic and intertidal grazer, armoured all-consuming blob.
Genetic diversity: moderate (cloning).
Description: small-medium animal with radial symmetry, partial buoyancy, basic olfactory sense, basic circulatory system, and a large motile fringe used for crawling, to enhance oxygen absorption, and aid external digestion. Thick flexible skin covered with calcite scales for protection, digestive juices can also be used as a defensive weapon.
Species Name: Fibranu Ancestor Species: Gistantula Selective Pressure: Surviving long periods of starvation. Primary Mutation: Inside the shell, there is a complex system of tubes and caverns that provide increased volume and surface area, catching and holding nutrients that are stored for long periods of time. Secondary Mutation(s): A primitive stomach is formed that acts as the main digestive point.
Thanks guys After being so long in the making, I wasn't expecting new evolutions so soon.
I am hoping to get a semi-regular update schedule from now on.
Mirimazdur - approved!
Textmessage - approved, but I'm afraid I would like a new name, something not completely for the lols (although I do see what you did there ). I will rename it myself if none is provided.
Latcher - serious concern. Coming from a lineage of photosynthesisers, I'm not clear on how it actually gets nourishment once it has attached to an animal's filter-feeding apparatus. Basically sitting in its mouth. It will be damaged by digestive fluids if trying to get to the actual nutrients.
Spreader - some concern. Spores already spread fine throughout lakes by the movement of water, so there's no need to attract animals specifically for that. Hardened seeds are doable, though.
Stick Moss - approved!
Fibranu - basically approved, if you just have nutrient/energy storage nodules - not sure how 'increased surface area' would work - remember bacteria will be attacking any half-digested food and causing problems, unless you can address that issue as well
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). I will rename it myself if none is provided.
