Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web.

While unregistered users are able to browse the forum on a basic level, registering an account provides additional forum access not visible to guests as well as the ability to join in discussions and contribute yourself! Registration is free and instantaneous.

Join our community today!

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Kryptona; Life, seeing in X-Ray
Topic Started: Feb 24 2010, 06:51 PM (1,412 Views)
Pando
Member Avatar
Obey or I'll send you to the moon
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
This is my first exobiology project, but here it goes...

Life on this planet sees X-Ray (just something I've been thinking of recently). The planets inhabitants are quadrupeds with no jaws. Their bodies are also red so that UV isn't reflected but received for some extra energy (something like photosynthesis), and are covered in soft, flexible armor to protect against the X-Rays, endoskeleton, plus that's what allows them to see each other. They have no jaws, but the mouth area is closed and armored, with an open-able hole that can release it's proboscis to eat. The creatures can hear, see in X-Ray, smell, and feel, but can't taste as they have no tongue.

The planet has a similar atmosphere, gravity, size, and temperature to Earth. Because of that, humans only need a radiation suit to go in it, but no oxygen tanks.

I've got only 1 creature for it, and it's an order of bipedal predators with jointless finger-like claws and 2-4 jointed extendable claws on its head to kill. They also have 3 big spikes at the base of the head and small spikes running all along their "spines". They can go from 1 feet long to 30 feet long and be omnivores or carnivores. They are the apex predators on the planet.

There is a sentient species on the planet. It is one of those X-Racian theropods, 5 feet tall and 8 feet long, and omnivores. They have 3 digit-claws (one is a thumb) and 4 head claws (one at each corner). At the time humans discovered it, they had similar technology to today (which means no TV, Computers, or Light Bulbs as they would take more energy to emit X-Rays).

Also due to fact that they can survive X-rays means that any nearby gamma ray burst would be like a UV ray burst on Earth, would case a KT-like mass extinction but not reset life back to bacteria.

Is this planet plausible?
Edited by Pando, Feb 24 2010, 11:29 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Replies:
Holben
Member Avatar
Rumbo a la Victoria

Gets energy. It will probably be quite severely ionised and its covering will corrode, so it could only take dips in the starshine.

Reflecting X-rays requires highly directed covering growth, many mutants will fall apart.
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."
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Pando
Member Avatar
Obey or I'll send you to the moon
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Okay, I've decided that it's time to revive this thread.

I have made some cell structures that make them less likely for X-rays to damage them (I think).
For you to know later: KNA is kryptosugarnucleic acid, and is their way of carrying material and coding (not using another thing for coding, like RNA, helps because they have less things to get hit by X-Ray.

The cells in the armor have no KNA, instead having the cells replaced by interior cells.
Cells share KNA, only needing them for their equivalent of mitosis and meiosis and for coding the chromosome equivalents.
KNA is triple stranded, only needing 2 of them for cell division and 1 for coding so that if 1 strand gets mutated by X-Ray it just falls off.
Cells have 2-4 cell walls.

The four kingdoms of Kryptona:
Xenoanimalia: Multicellular organisms that move on their own and are their own organism.
Xenoplantae: Producers with plant-like forms and shapes, most live on land but there are a few oceanic ones. The "bark" is armor that reflects X-Ray, the "pods" absorb X-ray and ultraviolet for photosynthesis. To humans the "bark" is purple and the "pods" are black. The jawed xenoanimals usually break it with their beaks, but the jawless xenoanimals need something like tusks to break the pods.
Xenoplants have a symbiotic relationship with xenoanimals, needing the eating of the pods to spread their seeds.
Xenoplankton: Main producers of the ocean. Most are free-floating, but some are stuck to the ocean floor and most free floaters are stuck to the ocean floor while regenerating after they split (how they reproduce). The xenoplankton are actually many organisms sharing the same armor, living a symbiotic life similar to Portuguese Man O' War. The armor collects some of the light, but most of it are collected through webbing at the sides. They each have different roles, like collecting sunlight, processing light, and so on.
Some xenoplanktons have developed carnivorism, eating xenoanimals, aquatic xenoplants, and even other xenoplanktons.
Xenobacteria: Single and multicelled creatures similar to bacteria of Earth.

Now for some species (sorry, my scanner is broken, so I was forced to do them holding them in front of my iSight camera, then edit them in Preview):

XenoElk:
A tripodal animal, it is a jawed animal of Kryptona. They use their long claws and beak to tear into the pods of plants, and their 3 antler-like horns to fight, protect itself, and dig up Kryptona "grass". It's tail has thickened and become like a 5th leg. They are from 20 to 60 feet long, and live in small herds of 2-6 individuals.
Posted Image

Sharkoplankton:
A free-floating xenoplankton, it also feeds on animals. They use tentacles as mouths with a beak-like appendages to rip into the armor of animals and tendrils next to the mouths to electrocute animals. The 4 eye-like things are infrared detectors, and the 5th receptor is an electron detector. Sharkoplankton are 2-50 feet long.
Posted Image

Xenoshark:
An aquatic animal, it has regrown the gills from atavism. They are carnivorous, and range from lengths of 5-25 feet. It has small x-ray receptors, instead seeing mainly with its structure on the bottom beakpart, which is an electron receptor.
Posted Image

And now here is a savanna on Kryptona, showing the plant structures:
Posted Image

Holbens idea of silicon shielded KNA can also work, which can lead to transparent critters like he said, visible only by infrared or electrons in the ocean.
And TheCoons (Lil Cthulu) ideas of colonial animals that dig into the plants and armor feeding animals are good too.

And in case you don't know, the beaked animals have cheek-like structures and are still holding a proboscis.

--EDIT--
I have a family tree of the terratheres (Kryptonas tetrapods) and all xenochordates (most xenoanimals).
Posted Image

The xenopisces are the main creatures of the sea, they have more than 1 class but I haven't started building them yet.
Xenoctopods are 8 legged animals that branched off the early terratheres.
Nullmaians are the second branch off the terrathere tree, they are the jawless ones. The Kryptonian theropods are examples of nullmaians.
The xenotetrapods are the jawed tetrapod tetratheres, and dominate Kryptona. The XenoElk is a xenotetrapod (but can be considered a quintaped).
The Bicaputae are nullmaians in which the proboscis container has moved onto the neck (usually) and a weapon has taken the place of the proboscis container (they are similar to snaiad animals.
The Novapiscae is a class of xenotetrapods that have regrown gills through atavism. The Xenoshark is a member.

--EDIT 2--
I have made a website for Kryptona here.
Edited by Pando, Mar 26 2010, 08:36 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · The Habitable Zone · Next Topic »
Add Reply