Turn 18EventStrength Dice: 6
Temperament Dice: N/A
...
Team PancakeNaturegirl1999:
absent...TricMagic: Decomposer features: 3
Demonic Spoon:
absent...Mushroom PlatetreeThe Platetree lineage have gained a new, novel adaptation. The ability to break down organic matter around them. Even their seeds can use this to an extent, by growing on carcasses to feed.
But this as itself provides no clear benefit to the trees, as they have been faring quite well without opting to something like this.
Status: LC
Description: A green plant shaped like a flat, rough circle supported by a long, fuzzy stem that is about 5 meters long on average. This stem ends with dozens of fragile branches that all terminate with a single large circular leaf shaped like a pan. A deep and extensive system of roots at the bottom of its stem dig into the soil and harvest it for water and minerals, which can also break down and absorb macro nutrients they may encounter. It reproduces by producing and shedding a puffy coat of small, perfectly airborne seeds that cover its stem. The walls of its cells are very durable and sturdy. It has a cavity filled with oil inside its stem, which used to store water and nutrients for the mean times. A system of veins course through its every tissue, and transport water and other essentials. It lives like your regular tree, forming vast, dense growths.
Habitat: All over Samel, bit considerably lesser on the southern edges.
Team Pasta VēlōcisA_Curious_Cat: Improvemets to the mouth, specifically a buccal cavity and a jaw derived from the cartilage arches:1+1+2= 4
King Zultan:
Supports A_Curious_CatSexual Selection vote: Various fins, specifically flesh covered cartilage matrixes supporting fish like fins: 3
Similar SelimorBlish are no longer jawless. Nor they are blish no more. They now possess a defined jaw supported by muscle, which can vacuum in water far more efficently than the older, archaic simple hole. To support this new development, larynx now have a slitless section before the mouth, for the animal to hold the water in to send it down.
And its not just it. This lineage has evolved fins. They first appeared as sexual display structures which then were multipurposed into fins capable of giving the creature a new way to balance itself. The tail fin have also changed at bit to make burrowing a bit easier. Now, dorsal fins, anal fin, pelvic fins are situated on their implied spaces along its body.
But this has a bit of a downside. The fins, except the tail fin, has no connections to the main body by cartilage. And coupled with an absence of a swim bladder, this makes these fins a rather swindly source of balance. Although this is definitely better than having no fins at all.
If you have all noticed, this animal resembles a shark quite a bit now. And is no longer a silly, slow fishie. So name changes to Salimor, a name made up from the taxonomic name for sharks.
It can get by well, but is still under predation.
Status: NT
Description: An aquatic animal that is 55 centimeters long. It swims along the sea floor and above and sucks up any organic debris it can find through its mouth that leads to a buccal cavity, and then its complex, three sectioned digestive system, which leads to an anus. It has 10 black dots on its very front, 4 of them larger then the other 6. The smaller six form a hexagon that surrounds a square that is formed from the bigger 4, which surrounds the mouth. It uses these dots to smell the water around and act according to them, approaching or avoiding alike. These dots and everything this animal has as parts are connected to and commanded by a ganglion, which stands on the start of a spinal chord that runs from front to back of the animal that branches out to the rest of the body. It is close to a rod of cartilage that supports its body, and has an extension on its front that grants the animal a sense of airflow. Both of these are separately encased in a set of cartilage vertebrae, that form a backbone.The nerves also course the animals thick, durable and flexible skin, and along with specialised sensors there, they provide a sense of touch. Along with normal skin, two distinct darker stripes of electroreceptive skin that allows it the sense the presence of other beings. The ganglion is surrounded by 12 interlocking rings of cartilage. A fluid-filled internal cavity surrounds its digestive system and acts as a hydroskeleton, which is also surrounded by a net of zig-zag muscles that aid in its movement. It balances and steers itself by its many fins, which are cartilage extensions covered by flesh and skin. A mane of thin and short crimson strands surround the head region, and functions as gills and ammonia disposal, along with a set of pairs of slits that function as additional gills, supported by arches of cartilage, which have also been derived into a jaw. A system of blood-filled veins course through its body, powered by a single muscle pump. It reproduces by external fertilisation of eggs performed by two distinct genders. The fertilised eggs hatch into tiny juneviles, which reach full size and sexual maturity not too long after. In sign of danger, it will either try to swim away or will drag itself under the soil with its tail.
Habitat: Benthic waters.
Team Lagus Blobflazeo25: Repurposed light orbs: 4+1= 5
Maxinum McDreich:
absent...The Canadian kitten:
absent...Sexual Selection vote: A throat: 7+1=
capped at 7Giraffe LagurasThe now ineffective light tendrils of Laguras are now gone, replaced by a new sensory and communication organ. This pair of growths first resemble horns, but are actually more similar to ears, with multiple holes lining it, and allowing it to take in sounds and have them resonate inside to turn them into sensory signals.
On the tips of these horns though, ligth producing orbs still remain, albeit smaller and without any ability to see. Those were instead transported into the heat eyes, finally giving Laguras true eyes. The eyes have also been positioned foward and provide binocular vision.
But as they say, every good thing has something bad in it. Laguras now have very very long necks, which they lack the structures to use. These necks only exist on males to attract females, and they can't really do much with this useless tube of muscle. At least they can still shallow. though.
Has no predators. And no imminent threats.
Status: LC
Description: A mammal-like animal with females a meter, males three meters in length. It walks along the forest floor and eats the plant matter there, but also eats corpses. It has a short tail resembling of a fish, which is vestigial, and it also has two pairs of legs to walk on land, which both terminate in sharp keratin claws. Back legs are much longer amd stronger pair of digitgrade legs, while the front legs are more like arms. Covering the body is smooth skin covered with jagged scales made of keratin, which it uses to feel touch and protect itself from danger and elements, respectively. And under that, there is a skeleton that keeps it rigid and provides pathways for its mucscles to work, also supporting cartilage that allows the bones to move smoothly. This is further augmented with a net of nerves just beneath the outer layer, which also controls its movement. This net of nerves converges into a lump in the head, which is a brain that houses a sex-crazed mind. It has a defined front side with a head, which has two giant, organised patches of heat sensitive proteins, kind of like heat eyes, that allows it to detect the amount of ambient and directional heat assisted by cone cells that percieve shape, and a strong, wide and long jaw with specialised keratin teeth that leads to a full digestive tract that also handles the ammonia disposal by sending it to an urethra that is integrated to the sex organs. 6 pairs of fleshy protrusions on its head function as sweat flaps. A set of veins and a heart transport nutrients and oxygen throught its body. Just above the eyes two short, fleshy horns reside, which are equalivent to ears, and end with fleshy orbs that produce heat, which equals to strong glow in their vision. They can even change the amount of heat they produce to send messages to one another. It reproduces by the internal fertilisation by the peepee of Eral, and the 3 month pregnancy by Alur, who then gives birth and takes care of the juneviles. Eral support long, and detrimental necks, a prime.example of Fisherian Runaway.
Habitat: All over Samel, with numbers parallel to the Platetrees.
Team Friendly PancakeKashyyk:
absent...Sexual Selection vote:
nothing...The hives have fallen into dormancy...Status: NT
Description: A complex of plants shaped like a flat circles with varying sizes. Long sturdy tendrils are used to form connections with others of its kind to transfer nutrients. Surrounding the edges of the pan is a coat of bonding proteins that allows it to stick to others of its kind. It's tissues are tough and supported by a framework of lignin to prevent injuries. It lives permanently stuck to the sea surface through the dozens of tiny oil-filled pimples across its body, which only some plants have. It can be found as mats numbering several tens of thousands plants, and never alone, as they die if they are separated. It features specialised subtypes. It has the ability to let others know if it is low on or has too much nutrients, or if its in pain by using the communal nervous system, which others will act accordingly by either giving or taking nutrients, or pulling their brethern away from danger and retaliating if possible. On every caste there are small tendrils specialised on chemoreception .The nutrient transfer is accomplished by a communal circulatory system that spans the entirety of a given hive, and it is powered by the beating of tens of thousands of internal water pumps. It reproduces by asexual budding from their pans edges to expand their colonies, and by incubating settlers, which are made by a process that makes them genetically distinct, when creating new colonies.
CastesSuncatcher: The green hivecakes with larger pans and the only ones that have oil pimples in their body, along with only having vestigial water pumps and their tendrils ony being connective ones. They compose the upper surface of a given colony. Their job is to photosynthesize and keep the colony afloat.
Waterraker: The pale white hivecakes with almost non-existant pans and non-existant pimples. Their water pumps are still external. Their job is to filter the water for any essentials and store nutrients in their cells. They do this by specialised filtering tentacles shaped like wide, long feathers.
Incubator: The specialised caste of hivecake that neither photosynthesizes or filters water. Instead, it produces genetically distinct settlers that grow into new colonies inside its oil filled womb, and eject them by turning inside out. It requires one or more drones to fuse into it everytime it makes a new settler. They have specialised tendrils that secrete a sticky nectar with drones in it.
Settler: The ones that produce new colonies by horizontally splitting into one suncatcher and a waterraker. They resemble both of their offspring, and are made.
Drones: This tiny, perfectly round caste specialises solely to be genetic carriers between Incubators. They are produced by Incubators and are placed inside the nectar until an animal eats the nectar, which then they hitch a ride find another Incubator and fuse into it, carrying the genetic material into the mix.
Strangler: A caste of highly modified waterrakers with a single purpose; catching live prey. Their tendrils are longer and have the ability to curl up very fast. They are also covered in a toxin that shuts down gills. They suffocate, then consume the prey, then send the nutrients to the rest of the complex.
Depthraker: A very derived waterraker that uses a single very long tendril to harvest the sea floor. Its water pumps are very powerful.
Steerer: A caste that uses its single enormous external water pump to push the colony to better places. They lack almost anything else.
: Open sea.
Team EraclitoLeonardo8: Better designed scales: 2+1=3
GOTOTOTOE:
Sexual Selection vote: Countershading: 5
Spiny EelishNatural selection comes in to save the day again. The many irregular scales have been melded together into wide ones. And some have been turned into spines which grow around vulnerable areas. The armor works well, as it is impenetrable, but spines are not. The vulnerable areas can't have too many of these or they will be hindered, which is not enough for fast and intellgient predators.
Another strategy was to use countershading. It works well, but their predators don't rely on vision to find them.
They are too big to hunt much, but killing them is still very possible.
Status: NT
Description: A serpentine, aquatic, mucus and scale covered animal that is 3 meters long. It swims inside the colonies of hivecakes with slithering motions of its muscular body and tail fin and chews pieces from the said plants through a giant, vertically opening jaw lined with flesh that leads to its large gullet that it uses to store food, and then its three segmented, efficent digestive tract with a stomach and intestines, which leads to an anus. It moves in large troupes numbering up to a hundred and can hold complex communication with pheromonal signals. It can use these signals to commence attacks and defenses against rey and threats. Its anus is also connected to a chain of gas bladders it uses to control it buoyancy and give its body its shape. It has 4 nostrils that allows it to read pheromonal signals or smell its environment. These dots and everything this animal has as parts are connected to and commanded by a chord of nerves that runs from front to back of the animal that branches out to the rest of the body. This cord of nerves is connected to a well developed brain. Two stripes of thin and short crimson strands course through the animals sides, and function as gills. Derived from these, a system of bloodfilled chambers and muscular valves pump blood through the animals body through thousands of thin veins. A set of glands that produce an antipoison to protect the gills. It is adaptable to many marine environments. The parts of its body not covered with its thick armor are instead defended by measily sets of spines. It reproduces by external fertilisation of eggs performed by two distinct genders. The fertilised eggs hatch into tiny, neotenic, single segmented juneviles, which reach full size, shape and sexual maturity not too long after.
Habitat: The hivecake collectives and the sea floor, and everywhere inbetween.
Team AkınMagmacube_tr:
1) A better sense of smell: 4+1=5
2) A better sense of sight: 1+1=2
3) Fixing echolocation: 3+1=4
Sexual Selection vote: An exoskeleton: 2
Bumpy LarlarinLarlarin have outphased their small numbs in favor of two long tendrils that come out of the sides of the animals mouth. These tensrils are covered with chemoreceptors that are much more powerful and acute than the small numbs. These tendrils can be moved at will and also used as manipulators.
Larlarins sense of sight has improved too. Well, sort of. They can see shapes very clearly, but just the ones that are very close to them. They are all very myopic, and their sight is no longer a suitable tool for hunting.
But there is a much better alternative anyways. The Larlarin can finally echolocate without tearing their mandibles apart. Their method is primitve but is functional nontheless. They can't communicate with this, and only detect things far away.
Lastly Larlarin now has an exoskeleton, which is very rough and heavy. This slows them down, but hey, they are shiny now.
Status: NT
Description: A semi-oval, predatory animal 35 centimeters in length. It glides through the waters by using its three pairs of semi-transparent, large and thin fins and stalks any prey that it can get its mandibles in. These mandibles lead to its digestive tract that is adapted to digest meat, and ends just below the mandibles with an anus, forming an 'U'. On the empty space in this 'U', there is a swim bladder connected to the intestines. It has a long and thin, constantly wavering hump on its back that has seven internal chambers that it uses as gills, which also functions as the ammonia disposal. A eigth chamber is also present, but it is instead a strong water jet. It has a nervous system that controls its bodily functions, which converge into a chain of three ganglion, with a large brain on the front, which calls the shots and does the thinking. A pair of long, flexible tentacles its mouth, and are used to smell around and grasp things. It has a closed circulatory system that distributes the essentials inside its body. An exoskeleton covers the animal, one that is very rough and heavy. It posesses two sets of eyes, one foward-looking and the other is on the sides which are very shortsighted. It can echolocate using its mandibles. It reproduces by imternal fertilisation of females by other females sending exploding, minuscule, echolocative male drones inside their wombs, and sibling squishing followed by the birth of 2 or 3 smaller Larlarin. It hunts with persistance tactics, by injuring the target and letting it succumb.
Habitat: Wherever it can find prey. All over The Crater Sea.
EnvironmentOn the southern hemisphere of the planet Aqautico, on a continent named Samel, a giant warm saltwater crater lake called The Crater Sea resides.
Surrounding the sea, a verdant forest of Platetrees cover the flat ground far as eye can see. Its surface is covered with a layer of fluffy seeds that look and act like snow. It is silent for the most part, but a bit flashy and filled with high pitched wheezing and guttural sounds due to the communication and the hopping walking style of the animal inhabitants, The Laguras that eat the seed snow and plant matter.
Through the east side, four rivers called The Harbringers follow curved, close-by paths to The Crater Sea, coming from a tall mountain range called The Snowtipped Wall. The mountain range is also very close to an active volcano. Along with the four rivers, there is a dry river bed, a remnant of a time when there were five of The Harbringers.
A smaller and much younger freshwater crater lake is also nearby, residing by the north of The Crater Sea. It is connected to the it by a small stream that used to carry toxic, heavy metals from the lake it comes from.
All these are on the continent Samel, which is surrounded by an ocean called The Big Blue. The southern parts of Samel are close to the south pole, so they experience cold spells often, limiting the forests from fully taking a roothold there.
Multicelluar life is abundant and complex. Vast collectives of "eusocial" plants can be seen along the deep sea. Large but separate algal growths exist along the shallow shores as well, and used to be more widespread than they used to be.
It is also very clearly present on the flat land surrounding The Crater Sea, as the Platetree forest.
Author
Topic: Competitive Evolution (Turn 18) (11/15) (Read 36839 times)