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Kanaloa; We've got Mud n' Eels...
Topic Started: Oct 7 2008, 11:53 AM (7,541 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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agatharights
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AND THEN EVERYTHING DIED

*cough*

Well, because I think that maybe at some point crude skeletons did develop, henceforth why the few flying "birds" might have skeletons, but they're the only remaining creatures that have that trait. But the mass extinction that would've taken out the other boney creatures would've been whatever event also killed off the "true" plants (which specialized above-water) and flooded the planet. Since the boneless creatures were basically the winners of the sea, they flourished once their territory grew.

I also figure that around the big extinction ((at least 300-500 Million Years Ago)) a class of creatures that I'm referring to as "Cthulu" developed, and I hope to make them the largest creatures on Kanaloa, living in places so deep and sheltered that they've had little to no need to change.

As a note, Kanaloa is approximately 6 Billion years old, so it's got a good billion, two billion years on Earth. A little older than earth, cosmically, with a bit more time to develop.
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lamna
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That makes sense. I wonder what finds will be made in the rock under the seas. I expect paleontologists would be able to fin out a lot from Kanaloa. In theory they could of course, in practice..

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agatharights
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The trick with the fossil record is that it'd be easier to track the development of bony and shelled species, since mollusks don't leave much behind to fossilize in the long run. Archaeology expeditions underwater would be amazing, though. Can you imagine finding the remains of a shell big enough to fit a car in?
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lamna
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That would be incredible, what a find for the Imperial Museum.
Billions of years of history, recored. What a thing to see.
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agatharights
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Billions of years of evolution, of mass extinctions, of events that leveled continents...it would be amazing. I imagine Mermatees, in all their curiosity, would be interested, too. I bet they'd identify the remains of larger creatures in their mythologies.

"So, the natives told you what it was an appendage from?"

"Erm, yes...and...they described it to me."

"And what is it?"

"...Sir, have you ever read any Lovecraft?"
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lamna
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I bet there would be some colossal squid on Kanaloa. I expect it would attract paleontologists for so long archaeologists would examine old digs in time.
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agatharights
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Oh, definately. There'd be some huge creatures, there, so to see just how big things could get...yikes.
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lamna
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I wonder how many trashy films will be set on Kanaloa. Beaks!
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"Beak! And tentacles! And beak!"

"We're never letting you explore on your own again."
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The_Alloxite
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OK, they have bones. The only vertebrates besides mermatees that have survived on Kanaloa. I think mermatees could domesticate. Cro-Magnons did it with wolves back in the last Ice Age, why can't maermatees do it with the huggable squishy?
"Yo mama so stupid she cheated off of George W. Bush's Billy's test!" ~Irwin's Grandmama, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

*I look at my French Bulldog*
*My French Bulldog looks at me*
Me: "Why does my room smell like your diarrhea?"
French Bulldog: *Through her eyes* I dunno, it's your room, two-legs.
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agatharights
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I think it's more of the same reasons Mermatees apparently dont' have a concept of warfare or conflict with other Mermatees, because animals were domesticated to make life easier. Without the need to do so, Mermatee domestication would be similar to how dolphins follow around people and beg for scraps and do tricks.
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lamna
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"But I like exploring. And the kind of exploring I do here I don't want you watching."

"Mermatees? Whatever floats your boat"

"Not exactly, its tentacle planet here"

"Eww"
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Oooh, it goes down stairs!
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"Chiiiiiiikiiii!" ("I want a doggy like that human, momma!)

"HACHIIIII CHIIKAAAWAWWAA!" ("FOR THE LAST TIME, YOU HAVE A F**KING HUGGABLE SQUISHY! YOU DO NOT NEED A STUPID MAMMAL!")

"BARK BARK!" *Snarl* ("I resent that statement, d**nit!")
"Yo mama so stupid she cheated off of George W. Bush's Billy's test!" ~Irwin's Grandmama, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

*I look at my French Bulldog*
*My French Bulldog looks at me*
Me: "Why does my room smell like your diarrhea?"
French Bulldog: *Through her eyes* I dunno, it's your room, two-legs.
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XD

*Can't stop laughing*
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lamna
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"Why have you got a squishy, and where is the dog"

"....I traded"
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