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A planet idea...; ...named Auratia
Topic Started: Jan 16 2010, 03:17 PM (748 Views)
Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Goldfish

Someone showed me this article in driver's education. Not true at all (as you will find out in the very first sentence).

But it got me wondering: what would a planet be like with those kind of goldfish? I'm talking about the electrical charge thing. Able to scrape their scales together to create some sort of electrical current and then zap their prey/predators.

Now, unless the Qu genetically engineered goldfish to be this way, they would not be descended from goldfish or even remotely related to them. They would instead be a phylum in Auratizoa. Not necessarily the dominant phylum, but a phylum.

What would the other life be like? What about the planet they would live on? What must planetary conditions be like to give rise to these electric goldfish?

Speculate.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

That's really weird.

I don't think scale-scraping would be the way- perhaps muscle movement, like in electric eels and torpedo rays?

Predators- very strong charges to stun prey, which they then nibble.

Prey- strong sensory nets, to detect the predators.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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Ddraig Goch
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Ar hyd y nos

Is it possible that, on this world, electricity fulfils a similar role as on Earth? Perhaps with anti-venoms (or rather, really poorly conductive skin, perhaps?)
Save the Blibbering Humdinger from extinction!
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Une bon idee!

Insulatory skin! But the predators might evolve a tube to insert and unleash the zzzaaaappp.

What of terrestrial goldfish?
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Perhaps this world would have dense clouds of water vapor.

Or maybe the predators have found a way to insert a tube (like Ddraig said) into their prey and zap them. Even on land.

Either that, or this is a true water world, or the goldfish phylum is restricted to water.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Canis Lupis
Jan 16 2010, 04:31 PM
(like Ddraig said)
:o

We could do something with the plants as well, having them repelling herbivores using electricity. But they can't penetrate the hide except with spines.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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Ddraig Goch
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Ar hyd y nos

A true water world would be best, at least if we want to show some compassion for the creatures. Imagine when they try to evolve for life on land - the predators will go to shock something, then realise that it doesn't work out of water. Bless!

Seriously though, just a few sandbars of land.I would like to see some lagoon-type biomes, though.
Save the Blibbering Humdinger from extinction!
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Perhpas some prey could lay eggs on land, away from predators.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Yes, perhaps. It would be effective predator avoiding.
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Ddraig Goch
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Ar hyd y nos

Just out of interest, are the fish Terran-based, or have they evolved seperately on this planet?
Save the Blibbering Humdinger from extinction!
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ATEK Azul
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Transhuman
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I'm guessing separatly.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

Fish have something called a lateral line system. It's a sense organ used to detect things like direction and speed of a current, vibrations in the water, and sometimes even water pressure. Some species of fish have special lateral lines that act as electroreceptive organs, and sharks even use them to detect magnetic fields. I'm not sure the purpose they serve in fish, but if most organisms on a planet have complex electrical systems like the ones you're describing, having something like electroreceptive or magnetoreceptive lateral lines may help not just locate, but pinpoint prey. Especially useful in dark or murky water, such as a swamp (or a planet with prolonged periods of darkness).
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

Tree That Owns Itself
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ATEK Azul
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Sounds like they might not need complex Eyes if they have developed versions of what Parasky is talking about.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Yes. Why evolve eyes when you've already got that electromagnetic sense like Parasky was talking about?


And Ddraig, Atek is correct. They evolved seperately (but convergently) with fish.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

The sensory net, maybe? Like that of an electric eel?

Eyes would be rather silly- perhaps they would need a long range vibration sensor as well though, seeing as the further away, the better.

My tube idea could mean the carnivores must project a 'dampening field' around themselves for stealth- or just get really fast.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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