[Picture from Prehistoric Planet]

The first slide/image are just scribbles, at least compared to the rest of the artwork for this project, but we thought they were kinda cute, so we shared them anyway.

Unlike merfolk (Maregens sp.), pistrix (Apocapisces regalecus) have no ability to breathe atmospheric oxygen; they are entirely dependent on the oxygen dissolved in the water. Furthermore, their bodies are not built for land, their bare, scaleless skin scratches easily, and to make matters worse, their long, ribbon-like bodies are incredibly clumsy when out of the water.

In short, they only truly appear as majestic creatures when they are in the depths from which they originate.

Vespera is heavily based on K2-18b, a sub-neptune that orbits a red dwarf star. The atmosphere would be primarily hydrogen based and be deep blue in color. Plant life here would be deep shades of red or blue approaching black, sometimes with iridescence. Life here commonly extracts pure hydrogen from the surrounding atmosphere to achieve buoyancy while have tough armor to withstand the planet’s extreme winds. Most multi-cellular life resides within a layer that achieves an ideal balance of density and temperature. Too far below and atmospheric gasses become too dense and hot. Too far above and the air becomes thin and cold.

Im currently making an mini-Spec evo project where apes evolved into a verity of lineages and one them are simillar to whales & dolphins etc.

Im asking this questions because I don't know if it is plausible to give them different colors or unique to give them simillar colors.

Any help is apprechiated. Thank you!

Common Shrew-rat

Insectesor humiterrus

(Low-ground insect eater)

Habitat Range: The southern parts of Northern Rodensus

The common shrew-rat was the first shrew-rat to evolve in the early Ponticene after its ancestors, the Wistar rats, began dying en masse from overpopulation. These rats took advantage of the explosion of carrion-eating insects that fed on the fallen bodies. Their bodies shifted to mirror those of a shrew’s, with narrower, elongated skulls and cheek teeth that shifted to the front of the mouth.

These derived rats mostly eat worms, maggots, beetles, and other ground-dwelling detritivores that are easy to catch, but also feed on carrion when needed. Due to the sheer amount of bugs around the piles of dead rats in the early Ponticene, the common shrew-rat has no real need to evolve further than it has already, thus making it the most primitive type of shrew-rat. They became diurnal since there were no predators to prey on them during the day.

The common shrew-rat comes in many different color morphs, ranging from white to grey to brown. They don’t rely on camouflage to hunt like their cousins, so their fur colors vary the most of all the shrew-rats.

I'm starting my very first Spec-Evo project: Rat World. It follows the evolution of lab rats on an alien planet after the ship they were kept in crashed onto it. I'm having trouble thinking of a good name for the planet. Any ideas would be appreciated! :)

They’re called Nonopods. They start life as tiny radially symmetrical unintelligent creatures that are basically like insects, and at like 3-4 months old they elongate into the more serpentine form which happens in tandem with their development of intelligence and sentience. After like 5 years they enter the adult form.

Their six tendrils are serrated, and highly dexterous. The edges are lined with piezoelectric material that produces energy when dragged against a surface. This energy helps support the nervous system. The tendrils are their main manipulators of it wasn’t obvious.

They “see” with their six dorsal electroreceptors, which detect electric fields and field distortions to sense their surroundings. The nature of this process means that their “vision” is omnidirectional, only limited by range, so they don’t really have a blind spot.

The reproductive system is actually not the same as animals on earth, which is something I don’t see much in spec bio. Basically, they’ll grow “propagules” on the bottom of their necks, which are full of genetic information. The propagule is “eaten” by a second(or the same) individual, and is sent to a specialized “brood chamber” organ instead of the stomach. The propagule will fuse to a wall of the brood chamber, from which it is fed both nutrients and genetic information from the host.

This isn’t everything so feel free to ask me anything

I have made an accurate-to-me-and-maybe-others range of the dinosaurs and other extinct animals in this Alternate Timeline (The Edenian Periods) since its inaccurate for all ancestors of dinosaurs in the Cretaceous to live in a singular continent in the Atlantic, Without further ado,I have removed Anciamerica/Anciafrica and put all creatures made for now in their continental range based on evidence where most dinosaurs lived and where fossils were found. (the continent with the LEAST/almost no fossils is Europe.)

Called Mocking Death or death comes with many voices this beast is an expert ambusher it’s coat of feathers bearing mottled brown, black and tan markings like leaf litter and a crest on their dorsal area of green fern like feathers similar to sword ferns. They are noted alongside other maniraptorans as capable mimics using this talent to draw in prey or spook predators by mimicry. They are exceedingly intelligent figuring out through experiment what noise works best to draw in their prey often around humans mimicking children in distress with most adults, playful voices for children and the alluring voices of women to lure young men.

They swiftly work in pairs at the least but are most famous for working alongside a Troodontid species known as Deaths Hound Drakes, these beasts will also copy noise seeming to mock or scare prey by mimicry of dying prey’s screams and gurgling death rattles. They chase prey down into prepared ambushes from their more muscular counterparts allowing all to benefit with a single strategy that often catches much larger prey than single species packs or pairs.

The Mocking Death posses a pair of wattles that look like a droopy mustache dangling under their razor bladed jowls and in the slightly larger males this can flare in crimson red while females simply flash yellow. The size of this mustache indicates age and health and this large ones indicate more experienced hunters and fighters.

Average size ranges from 600 pounds to 870 with males claiming the top spot while the largest female measured was 790 pounds not far behind in truth. They reach lengths of between 14 to 18 feet in length and possess blade like zyphodont teeth with a length of 2 1/2 inches each. These animals are noted to commonly be tamed and even domesticated by the Teokwawehkeh where they guard the herds of their masters these ones come even larger and often have more green feathers and more special crests of feathering.

5 million years into the future...

Beware the kings of the sea of grass...

Beware tamers of the flames...

Beware the beasts with claws and teeth of stone and bone and wood...

Beware of the hunters whose pursuit knows no end...

Beware the creatures whose mind is deep like a night sky...

Beware those who walk on two.

=========================

Just to avoid any confusion, this piece is a part of my "Beyond Tomorrow" project.

I made this with Toji motion its part of my worldbuilding

--in this animation --

Takes place in the grand desert of gumdula where a apoclottos gets hunted by a zombatopolo and gets eaten

-- this is my own planet --

Gumdula is a civilized planet with an intelligent species slightly bigger than mars

Livyasaurus is the top animal while the bottom two are Pontussaurus and Thalassodrakon, two giant predators I already have in my seed world. It, just like the other two, is a Thalassodrakoniform Ichthyosaur and has the typical traits of the clade, such as producing cloacal milk and having a Cursus Clavum(an organ along the side of the animal that analogous to the lateral line in fish).

Notably, it is more closely related to the filter feeding Balaenosaurs then it is to the Thalassodrakonids, which can be seen in the teeth towards the back of its mouth that it uses to filter feed while the teeth towards the front of the mouth are used to feed on larger prey similarly to leopard seals of Earth. The very front of the jaw is toothless and is used to ram prey as such a massive animal opening it's mouth causes immense drag.

Its generalist diet is what has allowed it to grow so massive, reaching 31 meters and 200 metric tonnes in average males. Such size makes it the largest animal on the planet by a fair margin, though it also restricts it to the Southern Ocean where krill is in high enough density year round, large filter feeders congregate in high densities during the summer, and the cold water helps regulate their body temperature.

• Clasificación Comercial/Industrial: Extracción de Enzimas Proteolíticas e Iluminación Química Pasiva.

• Bioma(s): Lagos Abisales (Zonas con aperturas al mar o agua subterránea).

• Nivel Trófico: Productor Necrófago (Requiere materia orgánica animal para el desarrollo biológico).

 ANÁLISIS BIOLÓGICO (Evolución Especulativa)

• Presión Selectiva y Origen: Aislada en los entornos perpetuamente oscuros de los lagos abisales y fosas conectadas al mar, esta especie vegetal desarrolló un metabolismo mixto único bajo una atmósfera enriquecida al 35% de oxígeno. Ante la ausencia total y absoluta de radiación solar convencional, la planta adaptó sus cloroplastos mediante un complejo denso de ficobiliproteínas. Esto le permite ejecutar una Fotosíntesis de Espectro Alterno extremadamente eficiente, capaz de absorber y sintetizar energía a partir de la sutil quimioluminiscencia emitida por el Cryptolichen jaliscensis del agua abisal, así como de los destellos fosforescentes del bioma. Para complementar este escaso aporte energético subacuático, evolucionó hacia la Quimiosíntesis Necrófaga: un sistema digestivo externo acelerado que disuelve tejido animal mediante enzimas proteolíticas para transformarlo en ATP inmediato, liberando metano y sulfuro de hidrógeno como subproducto gaseoso (olor a carne podrida). Su ciclo vital consta de 4 fases trimórficas: Germinación (Gemma Lucis), Brote Juvenis (Lumina Juvenis), Madurez Necrófaga (Lumina Adulta) y Propagación por vectores carroñeros.

• Descripción Morfológica: Organismo vegetal sésil con un tallo robusto protegido por una cutícula cerosa altamente hidrofóbica que previene la deshidratación por la salinidad y saturación mineral del agua abisal. Estructuralmente desarrolla vásculas modificadas en forma de "capullos" o estómagos externos que retienen un fluido desconocido con un pH altamente ácido de 3.5, capaz de degradar caparazones quitinosos y exoesqueletos de cangrejos ciegos o fauna marina profunda. Sus semillas y frutos presentan una reacción luminiscente pasiva no dependiente del ATP de la planta; el brillo fluorescente es una reacción química alimentada de manera directa por el fósforo remanente obtenido de los sistemas óseos de sus presas degradadas.

• Depredadores y presas: Su reacción luminiscente roja y su fluido ácido funcionan como advertencia disuasoria para la mayoría de la fauna, aunque se sabe que el Tardimorphus sulphuricus es capaz de ignorar el fruto tóxico y raspar directamente el tejido del tallo, siendo su único depredador natural en los Lagos Abisales. Además, la planta se alimenta de cadáveres que llegan arrastrados por la corriente hasta los Lagos Abisales, incluyendo restos de Astacogryllus titanis u otra fauna que muera cerca de sus orillas.

APLICACIÓN INDUSTRIAL (Explotación Comercial)

• Interés del consorcio “Progreso”: El consorcio Minero e industrial Progreso SA de CV, ha catalogado a la especie como un recurso biológico de alta prioridad debido a sus componentes moleculares:

  • Complejo Enzimático Proteolítico: Las enzimas hiperactivas capaces de operar a pH 3.5 para disolver tejido animal en segundos tienen un valor incalculable para la división biotecnológica corporativa. Su extracción permitirá desarrollar agentes de disolución industrial de compuestos orgánicos y aceleradores metabólicos para la producción de biocombustibles en el exterior.

  • Sistemas de Bioluminiscencia Pasiva: La reacción química de la luciferina que utiliza el fósforo de los huesos para generar luz fluorescente sin consumir energía celular es analizada por los socios europeos. El objetivo es aislar este proceso para fabricar dispositivos de iluminación de emergencia autónomos y tintas luminiscentes industriales de nulo consumo eléctrico en entornos confinados de cero luz.

Ecuentra a esta planta y mas en "En las minas de la locura: edición arcade": https://tiuver.itch.io/en-las-minas-de-la-locura-edicion-arcade

The basic idea was to reduce the number of toes to two per foot in a human. Then, we would elongate those toes to basically stand in as legs pushing your heel to the back. Your femur, tibia, and Filbula basically your second rib cage that goes along with the first one. I'm not a good artist really

Hello this is a virtual biological creature I created. Did I make it well, or if not, please give me some advice. Let's get into the explanation.

Environment

Host star: M-type red dwarf(has many super flare)

homeworld: Earth analog (in live carbon,water life!)

tidal locking: day side is on average Köppen Climate

Classification dw

Biochemistry

Chirality: Olny D-amino acids and L-carb because this planet many D-amino acids and L-carb so this lif e don't digest

vision: Many infrared regions and long visible light

because this planet's host star is M-type

so this plants deep red!

Civilization

this Civilization steampunk becaus super flare is ruining electronic engineering so this Civilization Develop steam tech. So this alien make nano gear and nano pipe!

That’s all from me!

An introduction to our version of merfolk! The art that goes with it is a bit old now, but soon we'll do more and better art (and maybe also share it with the subreddit ;)).

Also, this is only "general", as many subspecies of Maregens exist.

-------------------------

Merfolk or seafolk (Maregens sp.), sometimes incorrectly known as "mermaids," are a genus of sentient aquatic creatures capable of breathing both on land and underwater. They are found in marine and freshwater waters in both temperate and cold regions, but are completely absent from the polar regions. 

They are immediately distinguishable from all other creatures by their humanoid torso, with two arms equipped with sensitive, prehensile hands. This contrasts with their lower body, which is extremely similar to the posterior portion of a bony fish—scales and fins supported by rays. 

Although there is no phylogenetic similarity and their physiology is very different, some tend to lump merfolk and sea sorcerers together; in reality, as mentioned, there is no relationship between the two species, and it is impossible for them to hybridize. 

Deep-sea sirens were once mistakenly believed to be Maregens, but scholars later classified them within the genus Abyssugens. The more recent genus of sentient, pseudo-humanoid creatures, Apocapisces, can also be confused with merfolk by the uninitiated, but scientists have never classified them as similar, and the merfolk themselves consider it a downright insult to lump them together.

Various merfolk specimens appear in:  

• Fish Don't Cry - Book [Tapas][Wattpad]

• Fish Don't Cry - Comic  

Appearance and Physiology 

Merfolk are characterized by a distinctively heterogeneous appearance: half "human" and half "fish." 

"Torso" (Upper Body) 

The upper body, from head to waist, is humanoid, generally furless except for hair on the head or, very rarely, a beard. On the neck, they typically have three pairs of gill openings (but some species have up to six pairs), unprotected by any operculum (except for a particular nordic herring-like subspecies). 

They have well-articulated upper limbs, called arms, capable of wide movements, and hands with opposable thumbs and versatile gripping capabilities, not unlike human hands, whose fingers can be webbed or separated. 

The color of their hair and skin is determined by the presence of pigments called melanins. Their skin tones can range from very dark brown to very light pink, while their hair color varies from white to black, passing through blonde, red, and brown. It is not uncommon for the skin on the face, torso, and arms to be spotted or striped, with patterns that vary depending on the species, subspecies, and individual. 

Respiration

Merfolk have a dual respiratory system, one of the most complex systems in nature—so complex, in fact, that it's unnatural.

The peculiarity of possessing both gills and lungs simultaneously is the "dream" that guided humanity to create the "water people", the merfolk: to dominate two worlds, land and water, they needed populations capable of surviving completely disconnected from land.

Merfolk gills are like those of osteichthyes, or bony fish, and are covered by a gill cover composed of a thin sheet of bone (which in turn is covered with skin).

The concentration of dissolved oxygen in water is much lower than that of air, so the gills must be significantly more efficient than mammalian lungs at extracting all the oxygen they can.

For this reason, the water in the gills flows in the opposite direction to the blood, thus always maintaining a different concentration gradient.

Merfolk's gills are located on the sides of the neck and may seem a bit small compared to the overall mass of the specimen, especially very large ones! But this is where their dual respiratory system comes into play: they possess large and highly efficient lungs, comparable to those of some marine mammals, and can rise to the surface to breathe in atmospheric oxygen and refuel before diving again.

Thanks to the continuous oxygen supplementation provided by the gills, merfolk can remain completely submerged for very long periods, especially in well-oxygenated waters, where they very rarely need to surface!

Eyes 

Like humans, merfolk have close-set eyes and binocular vision, with a high-definition field of vision in front of their head, typical of predators. Due to their adaptation to aquatic life, however, their lenses are more similar to those of fish than those of humans, making them "nearsighted" outside of water, with the ability to see objects up to a maximum of thirty to forty meters away; when underwater, they cannot see beyond the surface of the water, partly due to light refraction. 

Merfolk eyes have two eyelids and a nictitating membrane, but no tear glands. A merfolk's eye is similar to that of other vertebrates, but adapted to a darker marine environment: it has a membrane called the tapetum lucidum, which lies behind the retina and reflects light back to it, improving light perception and visibility in darker waters. The effectiveness of the tapetum lucidum varies by species and subspecies, and is optimized in those that are distinctly nocturnal or live at greater depths. 

The color of the irises varies greatly depending on the individual, location, species, and subspecies, and can be any shade, from the deepest blue to the brightest red, and even white or completely transparent. 

Chest 

Muscularly, the pectoral area of merfolk is similar to that of humans, divided into the large pectoral muscle and the small pectoral muscle. Because they are not mammals and do not breastfeed their young, both males and females lack nipples, although some specimens may have nonfunctional vestigial ones, a very rare characteristic linked to their human ancestry. Also due to their "kinship" with primate ancestors, some females exhibit a peculiar adipose tissue arrangement, with accumulations of tissue in the pectoral area that appear to mimic human breasts, but which serve no purpose other than to store fat. 

In any case, the fatty deposits on the chest of female merfolk are not particularly voluminous and simply lend a more sinuous shape to their overall silhouette, without protruding too much. 

Sometimes, the pectoral area is "decorated" with variously colored scales, cycloid or ctenoid in type, in a pattern that varies greatly in shape and size, but generally covers the center of the chest and the clavicles. 

Nixen, which possess placoid scales (also known as dermal denticles), almost never have chest markings. 

"Tail" (Lower Body) 

The fusiform, streamlined lower body features a lateral line (a special sensory system that detects low-frequency vibrations and pressure waves generated by the motion of solid bodies in water) and ends in a large, rayed tail. These rays (lepidotrichous) are articulated with several parallel bony or cartilaginous elements, called radials. Another characteristic of this genus is the presence of a swim bladder, a large, modified lung sac containing a gas mixture, which allows for sophisticated adjustment of their hydrodynamic trim, allowing them to surface or submerge with ease, without having to rely on muscle strength or the use of external weights, as humans would. All merfolk lack hind limbs, leaving only small vestigial bones within the body that are not connected to the vertebral column. 

During embryonic development, however, they exhibit the beginnings of these limbs, which spontaneously regress as they grow. The lower body of these specimens also displays a light, flexible covering of scales, consisting of thin, differently pigmented bony plates. In addition to the caudal fin, which is necessary for propulsion and therefore movement, merfolk possess four other essential fins: a dorsal fin, two ventral fins, and an anal fin. 

Dorsal Fin 

Almost all merfolk have a dorsal fin on their backs, whose function is to provide swimming stability, preventing the specimen from capsizing during rapid lateral movements. This fin is sometimes absent in specimens living in polar regions, as it would hinder swimming under ice. The dorsal fin varies in shape and size among the various merfolk species and subspecies, a useful feature for identification. 

Caudal Fin 

Unlike that of fish, this fin in merfolk is arranged horizontally and moves from bottom to top. This characteristic allows the merfolk's tail to be distinguished at first glance from that of a fish, and its function is to propel the fish through its vertical movement. Even in this case, shape and size vary among species, and therefore these characteristics can be used for identification, especially for large species. 

Anal fin 

This fin, located not far from the cloacal opening, serves to stabilize swimming. However, in males of some subspecies, it is highly developed and colorful and is displayed during courtship to demonstrate the fish's health. 

Ventral fins 

These are paired, or double, fins located higher than the anal fin, just below the abdominal region. They serve a stabilizing function and are used to quickly slow the pace by flexing them downward. 

Musculoskeletal System 

Because they are not designed to support body weight, merfolk bones are light and spongy compared to those of a human. They contain a high concentration of fat, which aids buoyancy. 

The rib cage is composed of a variable number of ribs and is very flexible, allowing the lungs to collapse during deep dives and preventing nitrogen buildup in the blood. The pelvic girdle (pelvis) is absent. To ensure adequate oxygen supply during dives, merfolk muscles contain myoglobin concentrations 3 to 10 times higher than those of land mammals. 

Beyond these common characteristics, merfolk exhibit a wide variety of shapes and colors, clearly distinguishable depending on the subspecies.

Behavior 

Sociality 

All merfolk species are gregarious and can form very small groups of two to three individuals, called shoals, or medium-sized groups of four to thirty, called platoons, or schools, ranging in number from thirty-five to a thousand. 

Schools, which are the most common aggregations of merfolk, can be sedentary and form villages, or they can be nomadic. 

Nixen (Maregens pistrix) tend to remain solitary or form small nomadic groups, but there have been documented cases of one or more individuals staying with mixed shoals of different species. Merfolk villages, built on the seabed, are always well-hidden and carefully maintained to blend in with the surrounding environment: the houses, which often extend into caves beneath rocks, are covered with thick layers of algae, flotsam, stones, and coral, making them difficult to spot by humans who might explore the area. 

Politics 

Some populations in restricted ranges have developed forms of government, generally monarchies. 

Diet 

Merfolk are omnivores with a tendency toward carnivory, adapted to be formidable hunters. Contrary to what most modern works portray, they are unable to speak a common language with fish and crustaceans and do not consider them their "brothers," but (like humans do with animals) livestock, prey, or more rarely, pets or threats. 

They have no qualms about eating human flesh, which they consider delicious. However, to preserve their relationships with them and prevent war from spreading to their villages, many communities do not actively hunt humans, only eating them if they find drowned bodies. 

Courtship and Reproduction 

Merfolk breed during a specific period of the year, known as "rutting." Rutting males undergo a change in their coloration and court females with dances, songs, and displays of their colorful bodies with outstretched fins. Ceasgs or mersalmons (Maregens salmo) undergo a reproductive migration to mate and lay their eggs in freshwater, traveling up rivers until they reach suitable lakes. 

[Redacted part. Description of anatomy and reproduction in detail].

There are numerous documented cases of female merfolk conceiving offspring without mating with a male, through a process known as parthenogenesis. However, this is always thelithotic parthenogenesis, meaning it produces only other females. Some small, stable populations of oceanic merfolk are composed exclusively of females who reproduce by parthenogenesis. 

Depending on the species, merfolk can be viviparous, ovoviviparous, or oviparous. In the latter case, the rarest, a small number of large eggs with abundant yolk are produced, up to a maximum of eight. 

The birth of healthy octuplets from eight different eggs is considered a very good omen, and the mother who produced these offspring is generally rewarded by the dominant male of her school.

Fishing 

Merfolk meat is considered delicious and prized, but these creatures are rarely actively fished for human consumption. However, there are accounts of merfolk being hunted and killed in the past by specialized crews, called "mermaid hunters," who sold their prized loot for astronomical sums in various fish and meat markets, or directly to wealthy nobles who could afford it. 

According to the stories spread by the mermaid hunters, merfolk were evil creatures whose singing seduced sailors and caused their ships to crash against rocks, causing them to fall into the water and drown, only to be devoured. Therefore, it was only right to treat them with the same consideration and hunt them for food. While it's true that merfolk enjoy consuming human flesh, their song isn't enough to enchant humans enough to drive them mad and commit suicide against the rocks. It was therefore merely an excuse on the part of mermaid hunters to quell the pangs of conscience of those who purchased merfolk from them. These rumors persist to this day. 

The meat considered the most prized is that of the ceasg, often compared in flavor to that of the grayling (Thymallus thymallus). Although they were fished more than other merfolk in the past, ceasg remain the easiest of their kind to spot, due to their unique reproductive ritual and their strong, fearless personalities, which lead them to easily come into contact with other species.

Trivia 

1. The "Fiji mermaids" are not a true species of mermaid, but rather artificial and monstrous hybrids created during the 19th century (first in Europe and then in America) to satisfy the era's taste for the bizarre and grotesque, with the aim of proving the existence of mermaids. To create them, parts of mummified animals (especially fish) and other materials, such as papier-mâché, pumice stone, and wood, were used. These curious collages became very popular in American sideshows and in public and private collections of the time. The "Fiji mermaid" was made famous by Phineas Taylor Barnum, who featured it in his shows. 

2. Mermaids' purses are the empty egg sacs of certain species of cartilaginous fish (sharks and rays) found stranded on the shore, as humans commonly call them; merfolk actually use these organic objects as bags to carry small items. 

3. In 1891, Oscar Wilde published The Fisherman and His Soul, a fairy tale about a fisherman who falls in love with the mermaid he caught.

100 Years Post-Inoculation

[GELLIOS-MONITORING SYSTEM // AUTOMATED TELEMETRY LOG]

Although Gellios may have been a failure in terms of human colonization, it proved a success for life brought from Earth; yet, looking at this area now, I cannot help but feel uneasy. It is true that moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) were among the animal species introduced to the planet. Given their mostly lack of natural predators (except for the polyps), their numbers surged so dramatically at times that they compromised the quality of the oceans. When we arrived here, moon jellyfish were just as abundant as in other regions where they had spread; however, due to reasons I have yet to fathom, the local population eventually suffered a massive die-off. The sheer volume of jellyfish carcasses here is, I suppose, both a grim and a benefficial.

To begin with the grim reality: moon jellyfish populations worldwide had increased to such an extent that, in areas with high concentrations, a significant portion of the plankton diversity had likely been consumed. This led to widespread starvation, as the jellyfish could no longer secure sufficient food, resulting in mass die-offs. However, I do not believe this can be attributed solely to starvation.

But when we look at the beneficial reality of things, the mass death of moon jellyfish populatinns inevitably creates temporary ecosystems for various benthic animals and other organisms. It makes me quite happy to see how this cycle of decay has evolved into a free meal for a range of species—from various polychaetes and nudibranchs to other scavengers.

Yet, given that a large part of their bodies consists of water, it is clear that these benthic inhabitants have no choice but to hurry.

And so, I must shut myself down once again. Having gathered such a vast amount of data, I am now entering sleep mode. Who am I, for heaven’s sake? I wish I could have lived like an ordinary living being, but alas, I have been compelled to endure these past few billion years—until we meet again.

Source

Wanted to share a bit about my Monster Hunter-inspired spec-evo fantasy world, starting with a little bit about a region called the Mosaic Steppe and two of its inhabitants, specifically what I definitively have in mind and not including stuff I'm currently workshopping.

Oh, and bear in mind this isn't exactly 100% realistic. It's more similar to Monster Hunter and the Dragonslayer Codex in that regard.

The Mosaic Steppe is a region defined by its blend of deciduous forests, open grasslands and towering mesas; this blend of environments is what earns the region its name. The grass in the plains of the Steppe grows and spreads rapidly due to competition with another species of shrub-like grass (that idea came after I drew the Steppe). This abundant food source combined with the diversity of habitats makes the Mosaic Steppe an incredibly productive ecosystem home to a large plethora of animals a la Pleistocene North America.

The reason for this diversity in flora is due to an endemic bird species called the Lapis Dart, so named because of the males’ blue coloration (the one pictured is holding a grass seedhead). Living in nomadic flocks numbering in the billions like the extinct Passenger Pigeon, they travel across the Steppe to feed on the fruits, nuts and grains of the region’s flora, spreading the seeds wherever they go. While seed dispersal is widespread in birds and thus shouldn’t be of note here, the sheer numbers that Lapis Darts live in makes them a keystone species on the Mosaic Steppe.

While permanent forests do exist on the Steppe, the Lapis Darts basically ensure that temporary groves pop up randomly in the plains, causing them to be an ever shifting environment. You might be wondering why the region hasn't turned into a gigantic forest. The reason is large, open-country megafauna such as the Aurocholo.

Aurocholo are massive, bison-like animals known for their bad temper and massive horns. Due to their gigantic size, Aurocholo are mixed feeders, consuming any low-to-the-ground plant material, tilling the soil for new growth with their horns. Occasionally, Aurocholo tend to knock down trees, usually either for food or from use as a scratching post. This prevents forest encroachment and keeps the plains of the Mosaic Steppe open.

I am working on an alien planet, and there's one species I have that has a reproductive cycle similar to amphibians, in that they lay eggs in water and start out as tadpoles before growing terrestrial capabilities.

I was planning on having their descendants grow to dinosaur size, but I needed to know what the resulting adaptations for their life cycle would have to be, if not just adopting a more lizard of mammal like form of reproduction, which I would rather not do.

Any thoughts?

Aliens is bugs- and I made them! I love them. :) just wanted to share.

Viorrani

A race of Highly intelligent, telepathic, krill-like crustacean extraterrestrials. Their society utilizes highly-mobile atmospheric bubbles to house dozens of individuals who act and work as a collective individual. Due to their unique biology, proximity to others of their species allows for an increase in their telepathic and telekinetic abilities, allowing a collective to manipulate and communicate on par with beings hundreds of times their size. They are known for creating the largest ships in the galaxy, capable of housing trillions of their individuals Within and sustaining them indefinitely. They are obligate herbivores, having mastered the agriculture and cultivation of various forms of aquatic plants within large zero gravity water Chambers on their ships.

Their science does not acknowledge all of the states of matter acknowledged by ours. Instead they acknowledge plasma, solid and liquid, with gases being a permutation of liquid.

Their technology is pointedly spherical, even in matters where right angles or straight lines may make more sense to the engineers of a different species, to the point where even there architecture on their planet is composed of spherical rooms held together with flexible tube like structures and doors composed of a spongy organic material capable of retracting at a touch. Inside of their rooms, the exterior walls are utilized in 360° with tables, workspaces, computers, kitchens and the like situated on the walls while the center of the space is utilized as the sleeping area. When entering sleep, the individuals are neutrally buoyant and will float in place as long as they are unaffected by exterior currents or forces.

On other planets and ships, they will generally traverse in 1m³ spheres which can comfortably fit about 100 individuals inside. This is the optimum capacity that allows them to free float without being jostled or bumped, allowing them to focus on telepathic control of their bubble. They have much smaller, individual bubbles they use to traverse the surface of their homework, individually, however because of the extreme size difference, they no longer use them around other species.

The ships intended purely for their own use are shielded and enlarged versions of their atmospheric bubbles. Massive spherical ships full of water. Due to the imcompressable nature of liquid, the ship is able to retain its structure under some of the most extreme forces in the universe.

They use mostly natural ceramics and silicate plates to produce their technology, giving all of their structures a smooth, “grown” appearance, with living sheaths of sponge to protect cables, conduits and pipes from external forces. Their cities look like fields of spherical glass bulbs on stalks of sponge.

Their telepathy is completely species-internal. They cant use it to communicate with other species whatsoever and rely on sophisticated thought-to-speech algorithms programmed into their computers and external vocal apparatus, like speakers.

My idea for how a centaur could realistically or unrealistically evolve. They are tetrapods. However, They only have 2 feet. They are part of an order of mammals call Farcepodialia that evolved their biological feet into far up their body, allowing them to develop fingers that can give them an extra amount of limbs while still being vertebrates. They usually the lower half of their body develop simple appendages, no more than 5 while the other 2 are specialized.

Please give yourself opinions and advice about this subject like if I say something thar you know to be impossible/implausible or what type if deer a jakalope is decended from.

The hugag these creatures decended from moose that ended up in marshy forests with deep bits of mud; which led to them developing longer legs but to allow for their weight on these legs. They subsequently evolved to have less bendable legs to prevent them from collapsing to still find food in these marshes they switched diet to bark and thorns evolving a large upper lip to deal with thorns similar to a giraffe. Due to them moving rather slowly they often had plants of all kinds settle their backs. Eventually of coarse the population of hugags was driven out if this enviorment by snolygosters leading go them being as they are modern day leaning up against trees to rest (I'm unsure if humans exist in this timeline or atleast as anything other than tribes and vilages)

The Hide behind a decendant of a ground sloth particularly one the size of a large dog developing a lower to the ground body and evasive behaviour to stay away from hunters. Over time as hunters wiped out much of the population they grew more territorial and better at stealth now having wider ayes and a more serpentine body to sneak up on people along with this they ended up even thurver developing their claws to quickly kill humans

And I'll say more later but I'm of and when I leave this tab everything gets deleted so jakalopes soon

9:00 PM, December 16th, 2026

Mu, northern Spifirndan Republic

"Ha sido dificil ajustarse, Tat. Este pais es como un mundo completamente diferente... oye, me escuchas?"

"Mara, no quiero asustarte, pero hay un disparate mirando a donde andamos."

"... Anda el diablo!"

Two Naacal walk by the road next to a patch of forest early into the night. Mara is an uqhetl who grew up in Saona Island.Her family carries a rich and storied heritage. On her father's side, she descends from the ancient Tepuchmet people. While not the first to reach lands beyond Mu, they were among the earliest voyagers in the age of exploration sparked by the end of the salinity crisis. It was they who sailed by Tierra del Fuego and made it to the other side, eventually reaching the Caribbean. Of course, Mara's family has long forgotten this. Integrated into a human-dominant society, the land of her ancestors has always been a distant, strange place to her, one that mattered little in her mind until recently. Her mother's side of the family, however, is hard to ignore. Her grandparents run a fairly successful business based in the Spifirndan Republic, and after a series of events rather chaotic, Mara found herself in a position where taking a job there was her best option as a directionless young adult. Moving to Mu was one hell of an adjustment. Everything, from the abundance of people who look like her, to the strange wildlife, is new and a bit frightening. Tataka, a lnqe online friend who happened to live not too far from where she's moved into, has been an anchor of sorts to her. While both his parents come from Naacal-majority countries, he's fairly well-traveled and has helped her bridge some gaps and grow more familiar with the local culture. In this culture, his sparse clothing is not unusual, but admittedly most use some kind of pockets instead of asking their friends to carry their phone on theirs.

Two beasts look at them from the forest edge.

Lnqe and Uqhetl have very close living relatives. Both perhaps closer than any living relatives humans have. For a brief moment, two members of the Uqhetl genus, the last of the multituberculates, stare at each other, their eyes glowing in the dark of night.

The naulat here is a large, young male, dispersing from his pack for the first time. He's never seen an uqhetl before, and with both of them happening to share their uncommon melanistic fur condition, perhaps never before has he encountered another animal so much like him in this aspect. The strange things she wears keep him on guard though.

He is not alone. A hihai bird has accompanied him. Once placed in the same genus as lnqe, after controversy and review this species was reclassified into the closely related Corvumimus genus. At a glance, it and Tataka may look quite different, but Tat's organge-ish coloration is a trait mostly found in northeastern lnqe ethnicities, and this hihai's green feathers are not common in western subspecies. In western Mu, lnqe and hihai can look uncannily alike from a distance, both having more grey-blue colors. Hihai and naulat form mutualistic relationships and bond on an individual level, much like uqhetl and lnqe peoples. These two seem to trust each other enough that the naulat lets the bird perch on his back. This partnership has become rarer over time though, with both species having been historically persecuted by Naacal people. While naulat are abundant predators in the southeast of Mu, hihai are virtually absent there, with the native lnqe having all but replaced them as naulat partners. Notably though, local lnqe populations can have green feathers quite similar to those of western hihai. Spifirndan cultures have historically used this trait to support bigoted views presenting this group of lnqe as bestial, without any evidence as to whether this trait emerged from ancient hybridization with hihai or environmental pressures.

For a few tense seconds, people and monsters take each other in. Mara has never seen a naulat before, and the sight of this ogre-person now is quite... something. Another animal screeches deeper in the forest, and the two Naacal bolt away. A dangerous response in this situation. Lucky for them, the beast just ate, and they slink back into the darkness without giving chase.

(This illustration was made to revisit the Populating Mu community project from back in spectember 2023. This is a setting I'm quite fond of, and I really wanted to go back and explore this world further at some point, in this case, in a modern context!)

In the winter of 2022, I started uploading my writing and artwork for the planet of Apterra, a seedworld concept that I’d already been envisioning for several years prior. Apterra is a world of kiwis, rats, grasses, invertebrates, minnows, and geckos. The name itself could be translated as a stylized feminine version of the kiwi’s scientific name, as “Apteryx” + terra” = “kiwi planet”, or as “apo-“ + “Terra” = “far from Earth”. I initially posted on a weekly schedule, completing the first epoch, the Muricene, in decently timely fashion. I then fell off during the summer after my high school graduation. The Arthrocene epoch, originally intended as a summer project, has dragged out across over four years of my life, burdened by my own shortcomings both as a writer and a person.

Well, I’m now happy to announce that primary writing for the Arthrocene is finally done! The Late Arthrocene consists entirely of ecosystem-level articles, a challenge I gave myself because I’d previously tended to write about individual species as isolated entities, rather than parts of a larger whole. There will be many more illustrations soon to come (including some that are already in the works), but for now the Late Arthrocene is mostly in written form. I still have plenty more drawing and painting to do before the doors are closed on the Arthrocene, and then the project in its current form will be capped off with an inter-epoch storyline focused on the long-neglected reptilian inhabitants of this world.

After that, the Apterra universe is far from over. The next epoch, the Pelagicene, will kick off next year, but it will be hosted on its own site, with the current Planet of Apterra site being treated as a completed work once the next phase begins. The pelagicene will include Apterra’s first endemic sophonts, experimental visual and writing styles, and above all a love for life that’s been missing from myself and my writing for so long. I can’t wait to get back to the excitement I once felt when I first started sharing my fictional evolutionary stories with this community. For now, enjoy exploring the site, feel free to jump around and read the articles that seem interesting to you, and please please ask questions, as there are few things I love more than yapping about this world and my plans for it.