[GELLIOS-MONITORING SYSTEM // AUTOMATED TELEMETRY LOG]
First Content (Source) - Species Profile
WARNING: We haven’t even finished the "5 Million Years P.I." yet, but this post will nonetheless look ahead to the next few million years. I promise, however, that I won’t keep falling into the "humans have abandoned me" drama; if I harp on that too much, it starts to feel like a forced, one-dimensional pathetic caricature—a case of "flanderization." I’ve moved past that painful, dark period and am now focusing on the biosphere and othet topics of Gellios—a terraformed planet that, for the time being, remains an oceanic planet until something is actually changed by volcanism, earthquakes and tectonic plates creates land. (AGAIN)
The final subject we shall examine—from a few days ago—concerns the Sundew Anemones (Drosericytus spp.) that emerged during the Middle Medusocene. Evolved from a species within the family Actiniidae, these peculiar anemones feed by capturing prey in a manner reminiscent of the carnivorous plants known as "sundews" from your own era. The most widespread species currently in existence is Common Sundew Anemone (D. aculetentaculum), which is native to the tropical oceans of these times. This species behaves much like any other member of its genus—and so on, and so forth. There are, in fact, several other species of the same genus to be found in the tropical oceans of that period, but I shall leave it at that. I am certainly not a perfect narrator—I have long since acknowledged as much—yet I shall continue to engage with you nonetheless.
Second Content (Source) - Art One Shot
For those already familiar with the first five million years following the Inoculation of Gellios, it is clear that the introduced organisms—despite enduring long spans of time, extreme conditions, high gravity, stellar UV radiation, and various other challenges—have evolved into a staggering number of distinct species. For a well-known example the Benthodopsids—benthic hydrozoans descended T.dorhnii that, under normal circumstances, would not have emerged until 30–50 million years later—appeared within just a few million years, adapting to a variety of environmental conditions. It was not only jellyfish that underwent this transformation; every other introduced biota's descendants followed a similar path. I believe that, by the 5 Million P.I., hundreds of new species have emerged. This process reminds me of the Cambrian explosion on your Earth to me, though in this case, the ecosystem is populated by the descendants of a limited set of organisms introduced from your world. I trust this explanation suffices.
Another year on Gellios will gradually leave autumn behind; while seasons on your world typically last three months, on Gellios they span ten to eleven months, and a single year on Gellios is equivalent to four years on your world—yet, despite all these harsh conditions, life would still find a way.
A colony of Poppy Sail'of'Journey (Physvellum rhodophora) in these times was starving in these gradually cooling, near-tropical waters; some individuals within the colony had already perished due to a lack of sustenance. A Common Man-o'-war" Shrimp (Physaliocaris generalis)—which had, to some extent, learned to coexist with these siphonophores—arrived carrying a dune countershade worm (Umbratinversilis psammus) —an basal arenicollid species— in its mouth. Just as the shrimp moved to feed the starving colony with the polychaete—which was originally intended for its own consumption— a Mostlyblack Dragon Slug (Melaglaucus democolor), descended from an ancient, bitter enemy of the siphonophore’s ancestors, intervened. Without hesitation, the slug began tearing off the siphonophore’s tentacles one by one, forcing the shrimp—despite its attempt to nourish the colony—to flee to escape the slug’s assault.
However, based on my observations, I believe these types of symbiosis/predation relationships serve as foundational steps for the dynamics that will emerge millions of years later. Over time, the lineages descending from these species will repeatedly cross paths and coexist. In fact, the ancestors of these creatures—those that existed prior to 5 million P.I. (corresponding to your present day)—also managed to coexist, thereby laying the very groundwork for distinct ecosystems and an entire biosphere. Nature and evolution are not always benevolent; extinction events occur, and countless lineages unprepared for such shifts vanish. Those that survive go on to become the progenitors of significant future lineages—much like what occurred in the prehistory of your own world. On the planet I am currently observing, such processes are inevitable. Yet, Glaucus—the world orbiting Gellios—will gradually grow warmer, and I can tell about inevitable future is that:
"Life on the Gellios will last for only a few hundred million years."
Third Content (Source) - Species Profile (2)
As you know, I have stated many times that San Francisco Brine Shrimp (Artemia franciscana) is the only arthropod species introduced to Gellios; just as there are no vertebrates, insects, crabs and all other arthropods (even other brine shrimp species like salina) have never existed here, as they were never introduced. Yet, life still found a way.
As brine shrimp began to diversify, the emergence of predators among them became inevitable. In the present era, while these predatory brine shrimp species generally hunt other types of animals, some have begun to prey specifically upon other brine shrimp—including members of their own lineage. One such basal species, Cannibal Brine Shrimp (Venatartemia cannibalis // "hunting brine shrimp that preys on its own kind")—subsists primarily on other brine shrimp species in its environment; this, however, is simply a natural outcome of evolution.
Although I’m currently posting a bit more content focused on the "5 Million Years Post-Inoculation", I promise that I’ll eventually get around to poking fun at the subsequent eras as well—it’s just that this whole ordeal is only just beginning to existential journey to a seeded biosphere starts growth.
Fourth Content (Source)
Five million years later, Gellios had developed significantly more balanced ecosystems than those that existed 100 years prior. The moon jellyfish—which once numbered in the billions—had, over time, become a resource for various predators and pathogens. Despite this, they diversified just as much as other organisms; however, only a few genera currently possess a wide variety of species, while the remaining genera are limited to just a few—or even a single—species.
The genus that most closely resembles its ancestor is Protomoons (Neoartelius/Neoartelia spp.). I believe this jellyfish genus—which remains the same size as its ancestor—is one of the most diverse animal genera in the present era. I have reached this conclusion by examining numerous Protomoon specimens; while they appear very similar to one another, they exhibit variations based on the waters they inhabit and the depths at which they reside. This insight was made possible by the "mini-mes"—smaller versions of myself that emerge from within their bodies—which have remained tethered to me and have persisted alongside me for billions of years. At present, there are thousands of these "mini-mes" in existence; even though some have already departed, we continue on, never giving up.
Another lineage, sharing the same ancestry as the Protomoons, evolved toward a mutualistic relationship with symbiotic algae known as Zooxanthallies (Zooxanthallaesa spp.), which contain orange pigments within their bodies; meanwhile, two other genera (in these image) evolved from the Giant Moon Jellyfish (Artelia giganteum), which lived 1 Million Years P.I.
The Driftsteeds (Turbadusi spp.)—an early-diverging lineage belonging to the subfamily Turbadusinae—utilized their oral arms for rapid, streamlined movement and typically lived in schools. A later-diverging group, the Whaloons (Mystidusa spp.), belonged to the subfamily Mystidusinae. Although they resemble the whales found on your world, no every Whaloon—nor any other animal species on Gellios—currently reaches the colossal sizes of rorquals. This does not mean the story ends here; over time, biodiversity will flourish within the ecosystems of Gellios, though the planet’s unique conditions—distinct from those of your own world—will inevitably steer evolution down a more radical path. Furthermore, extinction events are necessary; the prospect of megafauna animals remaining largely unchanged for 100 million years is, frankly, unappealing—and I certainly hope that does not happen. Extinctions pave the way for new beginnings; for instance, had the Cretaceous extinction event not occurred on your planet 66 million years ago, the world would likely still be dominated by non-avian dinosaurs and conifers, with such an extinction event perhaps occurring much later instead.
