Evolution attempts:
Intelligence- 4
Saltwater tolerance- 4
Better legs- 2
Tentacle claws -6
Solet caste can move on land- 6
Metabolic water production- 2
The Spears have, over the past generation, evolved a number of things that assist them on land and making them far more amphibious, and their genus has changed accordingly to Amphonium. They now have claws on the ends of their tentacles, which are very useful in popping open the leaves of the Exomeso, and allow for faster water collection. These claws are also very dangerous and can easily cut up something that should be considered an enemy of the Spear, though the Spears are usually peaceful and will only use such claws in desperate circumstances. Their usage of the claws is not too well either, as they lack good musculature in their tentacles. Also, the Solet caste has developed two large stomas on their sides, which allow them to be on land for periods of time. The stomas filter air while they are on land. In humid environments, this can usually sustain them as they will absorb the water vapor, but in drier environments this will not and they need to be watered by the Spears. This has led to another caste of Spears representing about 2% of the land population only; the Curator caste. This caste is very small, but very agile and scales the trees quickly. They have a reduced number of tentacles, but enlarged water sacs and a special muscle around the sac which allows them to expel the water, which is generally only done to the Solet caste. The Solets on land are generally nestled high up in the Ectomesa trees, and are around the same size, though their tentacle-grass growth tend to be longer but thinner. These growths are collected by the Curators and stored in empty Exomesa leaves. This is unfortunately ineffecient as the leaves tend to be raided by Molediggers, who will not confront the Spears face to face but will steal from them, as well as the leaves tendancy to tear, or spill growths from the opening already present in the leaf from when it was first drained. This behaviors have come from their continuously growing intelligence, which has gotten better over the last generation.
Apart from these changes, the Spears have evolved a better saltwater tolerance. In areas where the Exomesa is scarce, they can survive of off saltwater for some time, by a filtering organ inside the water vessels which gleans salt out of the water as it goes by. The salt is absorbed into the body of the Spear and eventually discarded as waste over the course of a few weeks. Too much salt however will kill the Spear, so they cannot truly survive of off saltwater alone.
GENERATION 13:
(Amphonium) spear
A large, clear, tentacled, finned and trilaterally symmetric scaled blob. Their skin is extremely tough and they have 4 pairs of fins. They absorb food through the skin, and is dissolved in the inner body fluids. It is around 15 centimeters in height, 20 centimeters long and 10 centimeters wide. They have a number of tentacles from 20 to thirty, and each tentacle absorbs light in photosynthesis, but are also laced with a powerful toxin which paralyzes most things that come in contact with it. Each tentacle is close to 15 centimeters long. The fins are streamlined and encounter almost 0 water resistance. It has 3 sets of lungs, and a number of special tentacles used for dragging itself around on land. It has another set of special tentacles for leaf piercing.
SOCIAL: Has a shoaling social structure. There are 7 adult Spears in a single shoal, but up to as many as 50 or so budlets in a shoal. Each shoal is very emotionally bonded and will protect each other to the death if possible, and death of an Spear leaves the others very depressed for weeks. They will take a territory area together and live in it until they die, as the hunt together and live together. A dead Spear will not be replaced and all shoals eventually collapse, leaving room for other shoals to rise. A shoal which spends more time on land than in the water is referred to as a pack, but functions the same.
SENSES: Can detect electric impulses in the water of most degrees, but faint ones are usually still missed. Their eyes can tell most shapes, but small shapes or creatures are generally ignored. Because of their trisymmetry, they can see almost everywhere except for directly behind them. Can also project electric impulses at a range of around 500 meters. Their lateral line is useless on land, but they can still see fine.
REPRODUCTION: Projectile embryotic injection. Around a hundred sex cells are delivered any time a fired tentacle pierces a target. These cells invade the tissues and deliver their DNA. After a gestation period of around a week, the embryos reach around five centimeters in all dimensions and cause the host to burst. Only 20-40 will survive to adulthood, however.
MOVEMENT: Is currently the fastest known creature in the environment. Its streamlined fins allow it to propel itself extremely quickly, estimated 25-50 km/h. On land, they are very slow, moving at around 4km/h. They are very slow compared to the other land creatures.
EATING: It will prey upon the corpses of dead blobs. Its tentacles can create sugars from light with photosynthesis. The toxins which the tentacles carry can potentially kill other creatures, usually does not though, exceptions are those who are weak or young. Paralyzed but living creatures fall down to the blob's main body where endocytosis via the stomach sac then takes place. They can also consume water by absorbing water through their specialised tentacles from an Exomeso leaf in particular (but could be reapplied) and can store enough water for up to 4 days with pure water, or 2 days with saltwater.
PREDATION: The Crawlers are largely unpredated.
COMPETITION: They are competed by the Falconeye, but only on land. In the water, they are uncompeted.
SYMBIOSIS: They have reverse parasitised the Vincul, while not fully symbiotized, symbiosis between the species is made easier because of this.
INTELLIGENCE: Powerful intelligence. Has great problem solving skills and logic, and an excellent memory. Also possesses the ability to emit electrical signals through its lateral lines at a frequency that is only interpretable by other Crawlers (as of right now). This gives them a coordinating factor. They cannot communicate this way on land.
TOXINS: Neurotoxin(85%)- Vincul (100%) Falconeye (100%) Moledigger (100%)
CASTES: Solet caste- A stationary, photosynthetic caste which produces food for the Spears to consume.
POPULATIONS: Shallow waters- Vincul(14%), Spear (66%), Solet (13%), Crinis (negligible/nonexistant), Quadfin (negligible/nonexistent)
Beach- Spear (5%) Moledigger (61%) Falconeye (7%)
ENVIRONMENT: A shallow sub-tropical sea. Semi-stable reefs exist here, with a very rare frond interspersed between the reef ridges. Much of the reef is dark, overshadowed by the growing populations above. The ground is rarely found with a Vincul nest lying upon it, with their burrow nearby. The environment is at around 93% of its biomass capacity.
A sandy beach. The beach extends for kilometers before fading to the horizon. After about one hundred meters the beach gives way to a cliff, and above that very thick forests grow. Occasionally, a loud screech can be heard, or the squeal of a small creature. Small passes exist from the beach up to the cliffs. Environment is around 73% biomass capacity.
Current environment: Shallow sub-tropical sea, Beach.
Nearby environments: Deeper sub-tropical sea, river delta, forest, cliffside
(I said saltwater tolerance instead of freshwater because we already have freshwater tolerance. The ocean is salty but it keeps our skin moist which is the key problem. The water is separated through the skin from the salt. When we absorb the salt through the tentacles, the saltwater would directly enter the body, but their evolution no longer allows that.)
Sorry for the long wait guys.
Author
Topic: Competition II - New Life (Read 24452 times)