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Kanaloa; We've got Mud n' Eels...
Topic Started: Oct 7 2008, 11:53 AM (7,528 Views)
agatharights
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Sister Topic to over here. :D

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Approx size; 20-30ft. A slow-moving deep-water predator that sneaks up on prey, grasps it with it's main tentacles, and drags it into it's beak. Nom nom nom.

Kanaloa, roughly the same size as earth orbits a similar star, and is very similar to earth in many ways- except for it's geography and life. The planet's surface is almost entirely covered in shallow, warm oceans (with deeper, cooler patches and small ice caps- it's a little warmer than earth) with very little lands, either consisting of muddy sandbars that can wash away overnight, or reeflike structures that protrude from the water's surface wherever reefs are, as well as 'land' made from large, strong floating plants and some small islands surrounding volcanic activity.

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From a foot to two meters long. The beaked reefeater is a peaceful, if dim-witted creatures that uses it's large, hard beak to defend itself as well was to crunch tough reef into dust when it eats. Cute, no?

But it's not like anything lives on what little land there is, anyways. Virtually all life on Kanaloa exists under the water. Most life in the shallow parts of the oceans is rather safe, consisting of smaller creatures, strange plant-like animals, and the few carnivores and venomous animals don't pose too worrysome of a threat to the adapted posthumans (Mermatees) that live on Kanaloa (They still pose a threat, but attacks and injury are rare or treated well).

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This creature uses it's flattened tentacles to dig up sea-cabbage and sea-lettuce creatures, and then impales them with it's skinny beak before eating. They occasionally bite or nip mermatees or the passing human tourist, but don't pose a great threat. Approx. one meter long.

Granted, in deeper waters, things are a little more dangerous.

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oh god what is it make it go away make it go away oh god

But Kanaloa is a vast place, with much life to be had. Besides rather earthlike reefs, many of the plant forms here are actually somewhere between animal and plant, octopus or eel-like creatures capable of photosynthesis, and the majority of life forms resemble mixes of some creatures from earth. Cepholpods, eels, and crustaceans namely, adapted to fill the niches empty in the ocean.

Skeletons are rare, and anything beyond a cartilaginous skeleton like that of a shark is nigh-impossible to find in the native lifeforms of Kanaloa, although hard, bony beaks and claws are common (teeth less so, but still noticeable) as well as hard shells and spines.

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An example of sea lettuce. The octopod-like body is buried in the mud, the eyes permanently closed in adulthood. As young "spores" the eyes are open as they swim to find a place to root themselves. They taste kinda like broccoli and bacon fat.

Think Lovecraft, for these animals. Horrible horrible H.P.Lovecraft full of tentacles and writhing things.

Enjoy, and do check out the threat above for the Mermatees- my wonderful posthumans. XD
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lamna
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Oh here it is, I did not spot it before. This is cool, I have a picture of a plant-ish thing you might want to look at. But I can't scan it till tomorrow.

If that a detailed sketch of a deep water creature, or is a jigsaw of eyewitness reports and bite marks.
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agatharights
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I don't know. I assume it's sort of a jigsaw report thing. It's what somebody saw before turning around and hauling it out of there. I need to ink and color these. >.> They'd be prettier then.
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lamna
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They are pretty now, but colouring them would be good.
"What did it look like?"
"BEAK...and tentacles, and a beak"

I think the Lampuidweed can be found in very shallow water so its fins/fronds are on the surface.
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agatharights
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Ooh

"It had a beak! And tentacles! And an eel body!"

"...You just described pretty much Kanaloa in general."

"BUT IT WAS HUGE!"

I'd like to eat some of the plant-things. I imagine that's how they'd taste, like fat and plants, kinda like in Japan when we had deep-fried vegetables. That was so weird.
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lamna
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Perhaps it would be like very sweet meat because of all the sugars from the plant like part. But it would probably start to break down and not be as nice after a little while.
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agatharights
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Yeah...Eww, I bet that after storms, if things got tossed on dry land or the tide shifted, there would be rotting things everywhere. D: Unpleasant.

Mermatee: "...Less pleasant, but not inedible."

Human: "...I just threw up in my mouth a little."
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lamna
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Rotting sugar fish. I am not into alcohol in general but that sounds very unpleasant. Drunk mermatees would be very funny.
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agatharights
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...Who could tell the difference between drunk mermatees and normal mermatees? XD

"I can."

"How?"

"They're a lot friskier when they've got a few rotfish in them."

"...ewwwww."

"You didn't have to smell her breath. Stop complaining."

Oh man, that reminds me of the most ROMANTIC rescue ever, that I want to write into that short story. Where the human would be trapped underwater for some reason, like they got tangled in some reef and can't get out, or something trapped their leg, and they'd be running out of air because they were snorkling or free diving...and the mermatee would go to the surface, fill up their 'lungs', and then just come back down and breath the air right into the human's mouth. Repeat until help arrives. :B Like a kiss, a very life-saving fishy-tasting kiss...with somebody whose mouth can cover your entire face....
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lamna
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That would be very sweet. I forgot about fish breath. If they are anything like sealions they would be very unpleasant.
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I imagine it wouldn't be like...sea lion bad. More like "did you just eat sardines?" bad. Very salty(?). Is salty a smell? I think you can smell salty...
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I'm going back to basics.

Are there any small, docile things on Kanaloa?
Something is upsetting the ostriches.

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agatharights
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There are many! Most of the life is actually relatively small and peaceful, and docile enough to be grabbed out of the water directly. I just felt more like drawing giant horrible things. >.>
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lamna
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Similer to earth. But people don't be documentaries about pignuts.
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I just realized how boring a documentary on some things would be. LIke Coral. Sure, it's pretty...for the first five minutes...
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