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| Feather webs; derived sea webs | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 7 2010, 09:08 AM (821 Views) | |
| StinglessBee | Apr 7 2010, 09:08 AM Post #1 |
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Adolescent
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Name: Feather webs Time: middle Silurian Size: as a polyp, tentacle length is up to 25cm. As a medusa, up to 15cm across the bell Diet: Filter feeder, using its feathery tentacles to catch algae, protists, and edible detritus Habitat: Varies (see below) The feather webs are derived sea webs, with feathery tentacles designed for catching smaller prey than their more basal relatives. In order to avoid the fierce competition for space from neospoggia, feather webs mostly live in waters wherein they don't live: tidal areas (wherein they only enter the medusa stage during a high spring tide), in brackish water or even in fresh water (specifically the lower reaches of rivers: the medusa can’t swim in the middle and upper reaches as the current is too strong there). Several species are also prone to burrowing as a way to avoid predators or to avoid drying out when the tide moves out. The reproduction and life cycle of feather webs is otherwise the same as in more basal sea webs. Edited by StinglessBee, Apr 7 2010, 10:53 AM.
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| Holben | Apr 7 2010, 09:10 AM Post #2 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Nice. Do they reproduce like whelks though? That is, they send fertiliser down the beach to others burrowed into the sand, which use it to fertilise their eggs. |
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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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| StinglessBee | Apr 7 2010, 10:55 AM Post #3 |
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Adolescent
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No, they go into a medusa stage at very high tides and produce gametes of both kinds. When these gametes meet they settle and form into a polyp stage feather web |
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| Holben | Apr 7 2010, 02:21 PM Post #4 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Ok, thanks. |
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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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| Vultur-10 | Jul 10 2010, 03:34 PM Post #5 |
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ACCEPTED Your creature has been accepted and moved to the Accepted Species forum. |
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2:19 PM Jul 11