(SCREW THAT LET'S GET AN UPDATE UP)
EVOLUTION ATTEMPTS: Omnivory- 4, Territorial against other predators- 5, Stable mobs- 6, Neurotoxic ink clouds- 2+2=4, Respiration efficiency- 4, Intelligence- 2+1=3
Mafia shoalcores move, live and nest as a group. This means that there's always a defense against predators at the nest, and there's always some spare guidelings lying around. They have adapted to feed off of seeds that have floated down from the river. They drive out spearfaced worms from their territory, and this has shaped the environment of the area, given how both species affect the environment with their methods of hunting. They have developed toxic clouds of ink near the front of their gills, letting them shoot it forwards by shunting water through the gills. The gills have grown fleshy lobes, increasing the surface area. They have quicker reaction time now, thanks to a slightly more specialised brain.
The hivecase is the jawshell's descendant. It feeds near-exclusively on cattle guidelings.
The hive is the nestblob's descendant. It has three castes: the soldier, the guide and the cattle castes.
Spearfaced worms are still our biggest enemy. However, we have managed to form an equilibrium. This causes large depressions from the shoalcore's methods of moving dirt into the current while digging, and large mounds when spearfaced worms dig nests of their own.
GENERATION 11:
Mafia shoalcore
A murky green-and-brown tentacled fish-like animal that hunts in the low visibility of the estuary. They swim with their powerful tails and use their fanged tentacles to attack and kill their prey. They grow up to 35 centimetres long, and their offspring are called tentaclets.
SENSES: It has a sense of touch that lets it figure out if it's touching food, and an extremely good sense of smell/taste. Symbiotic guidelings help it find live prey. A keen electrical sense lets it find creatures that are close to it, and it can feel vibrations in the water from moving creatures.
REPRODUCTION: It lets out male cells when they meet a mate they approve of, and growths grow inside of the womb. Younger animals are mostly male, and older animals are female, due to the pressures of swimming while pregnant. Tentaclets follow their mother until they can be dropped off at their hivecore. They eat mucus that the hive creates (although the nestblob sometimes takes either type of larva to supplement its diet) and, when they are large enough, find a suitable guideling to make a nest with. The children of the hivecore (which follow the mother and are looked after by the guidelings) are attracted to the hive-forming pheremones, and a suitable animal is chosen and burrowed into. They then leave to find a new area to live.
MOVEMENT: They move by swimming like a fish. Sacs of carbon dioxide keep them buoyant. They also have jets which also function as their gills, which they use to make fine movement.
EATING: It impales nearby blobs and digests them by drawing them into the tentacles. They are able to prey on fast swimmers, and they use venom. Most of their food is from unearthed mud worms.
PREDATION: Some species of jawworm are able to feed on the tentaclets. Other than that, the shoalcore is safe.
COMPETITION: The spearfaced worm has keen vision and an even better sense of smell. Tentacles along its back can feel our approach through pressure waves in the water. It is highly aggressive towards us, and its elongated spears can keep it out of range of our various toxins.
ENVIRONMENT: A murky shallow estuary. Various species of worms (collective small ancestors of aciblobs and crawlers) burrow in the muck or swim around to filter-feed or hunt. It is usually fresh-water, although tides can cause an influx of salt.
NEARBY ENVIRONMENTS: subtropical reef, wide murky river
ENVIRONMENTAL ALERT- EXTINCTION EVENT
DICE ROLL- 6, MASS EXTINCTION, WORLDWIDE DISASTER
The planet has been hit by a gamma ray burst. The atmosphere has, quite literally, shattered. Every live form that was in sunlight was completely and utterly annihilated.
SURVIVAL ROLL- 2
The mafia shoalcore were almost eradicated. The only survivors of the event were the tentaclets, hidden in their hives. The hivecases didn't survive, and without their protective casing, the hives almost died out as well. Competition for the few surviving hives was fierce, and in the end, the population was only just large enough to avoid death by inbreeding. The spearfaced worms have almost completely overshadowed us now, growing far larger than any complex organism the world has ever seen. We, meanwhile, are still only a local disaster away from extinction.
POST-EXTINCTION GENERATION 11:
Diminutive shoalcore
A murky green-and-brown tentacled fish-like animal that hunts in the low visibility of the estuary. They swim with their powerful tails and use their fanged tentacles to attack and kill their prey. They grow up to 15 centimetres long, and their offspring are called tentaclets. They are almost extinct.
SENSES: It has a sense of touch that lets it figure out if it's touching food, and an extremely good sense of smell/taste. Symbiotic guidelings help it find live prey. A keen electrical sense lets it find creatures that are close to it, and it can feel vibrations in the water from moving creatures.
REPRODUCTION: It lets out male cells when they meet a mate they approve of, and growths grow inside of the womb. Younger animals are mostly male, and older animals are female, due to the pressures of swimming while pregnant. Tentaclets follow their mother until they can be dropped off at their hive. They eat mucus that the hive creates and, when they are large enough, find a suitable guideling to make a nest with.
MOVEMENT: They move by swimming like a fish. Sacs of carbon dioxide keep them buoyant. They also have jets which also function as their gills, which they use to make fine movement.
EATING: It impales small animals and digests them by drawing them into the tentacles. They are able to prey on fast swimmers, and they use venom. Most of their food is from unearthed mud worms.
PREDATION: The larger species of jawworm and spearfaced worm may prey on us, as long as they're immune.
COMPETITION: Our diminutive size means that we are now at the mercy of other predators. There are numerous types of predators of our size, and we are vulnerable.
ENVIRONMENT: A murky shallow estuary. Various species of worms (collective small ancestors of aciblobs and crawlers) burrow in the muck or swim around to filter-feed or hunt. It is usually fresh-water, although tides can cause an influx of salt.
NEARBY ENVIRONMENTS: subtropical rocky coast, wide murky river
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Topic: Competition- An evolutionary suggestion game (Read 101545 times)