(via brochant)

(via jaygrave)

(via mysticmementos)

alexriesart:

Cloakmouth - By Alex Ries

“The flowerjaw body plan reached its peak diversity in marine environments, where this group inhabits almost every major ecological niche. The deep oceans, while low in energy and deprived of oxygen and sunlight, are nevertheless home to numerous creatures. The beings of this ecosystem are able to exploit the abundant surface environment through either migrating vertically at night to feed, or by preying on creatures migrating into the deep to escape surface predators.

Sit and wait predation is an energy efficient way to hunt, and the Crystalline Cloakmouth represents an extreme adaptation to this way of life.

The reduced, soft body hangs below the highly modified mouthparts, which are dominated by huge vertical jaws spanning 13 inches from tip to tip. Sharp semitransparent mandibles are poised ready to snap shut on any prey lured inwards by the bioluminescent tip of the tongue. Prey that comes too close is skewered by the mandibles and then enclosed by the heavily pigmented jaws. This prevents they preys’ defensive bioluminescence being detected by larger foes.

The two huge lower eyes are oriented upwards and modified to detect the bioluminescence of prey, or their shadows’ against the downwelling surface light. The horizontal jaws, thin and elongated, are spread to the sides and covered in a line of fluid filled spheres able to detect vibrations in the water, a system also present around the rim of the main jaws. The horizontal mandibles are shorter and more robust than the crystalline seizing jaws, and are hidden away until prey is captured, which they proceed to butcher and then pass downwards into the pharynx.

The upper eyestalks are highly elongated and the post-ocular sections bifurcated into sensors adapted to detect the sex pheromones of conspecifics. Currents are so slow and the environment so vast that highly sensitive antennae are needed to detect minute concentrations of chemicals in the water. The small eyes on these tentacles are still functional but of low resolution; they monitor the light from the surface world and allow the Crystalline Cloakmouth to tell night from day.

Although ungainly, the Crystalline Cloakmouth can move quickly in short bursts to escape predators. Defence consists of several stages: First, the jaws with their large surface area are clamped rapidly together, shooting the creature away in the opposite direction. At the same time, thin translucent threads are extruded from modified limbs near the tail to form a mesh in the fleeing animals’ wake. Predators caught in this are tangled by the sticky threads, which bioluminesce on contact and thus render the predator visible to its own enemies. Proteins on the Cloakmouths’ skin inhibit this reaction when it becomes entangled in its own threads. As a final defence, the Crystalline Cloakmouth leaves the area using paired fins usually held tightly against its body, swimming slowly backwards to new hunting grounds. “

vondell-swain:

Alex Ries, Xenobiology

A large Earth-based company intends to use this gas giant in a nearby star system as a vast Helium 3 extraction and sales operation. However to do so the law requires an ecological damage survey to be conducted on the gas giant’s moons, to be sure the operation will not damage any ecosystems on them. This large moon, only slightly smaller than earth, was found to have an advanced multicellular ecology.

The Sol Union Xenobiologist Makeba Sutphen was sent with the company when they left earth, to make sure the laws regarding alien ecosystems were followed. Here she is approached by possibly sentient natives of this large moon. Although she has a camera out now, if they get closer or show aggression she is well armed.

The species itself evolved from large aquatic creatures which resembled less broad versions of Earth stingrays. As they began to move on to land small feeding appendages on their underside grew into thicker organs to propel them, and the large side fins retracted and darkened to protect against solar radiation. Sensory appendages which stuck from the sides of the head and helped find food underwater become very useful for judging distance above water, with the eyes set so far apart.

Males, who had to compete for mating rites, developed these eye-stalks further into horns, and used them to scare off other males. They also developed a more upright stance to better compete for mates until the species was standing almost vertical. With a head now so far from the ground, the large mouth migrated to the bottom of the body, leaving the brain, eyes and breathing tube on the upper head, so as to spot danger and eat at the same time. Waste products are ejected explosively from the body from a pore on the back, to prevent contamination to the mouth.

Now able to walk upright and survive on land, the species spread across its world to become the dominant creature on the planet.

whizbangpow:

Sweet

(Source: seethingvacuum)

(Source: quantumly-entangled)