Cala Keryh

Cala keryh adults are free-living, but rely on xatashots in their larval sage. What appears to be its head are actually four tentacles that are fused together. Its mouth is actually between its tentacle-like prongs, on its "rear". While it appears to have fins, these are just modified tentacles.

From left to right: larval configuration to adult configuration. The cala keryh has only two stages in its life cycle (three, if one counts eggs), but transitional configurations are included to show how the adult's configuration develops from the larval one. Many transitional configurations are omitted for the sake of brevity. In life, the changes are more gradual.

Whenever its ovipositor (egg-laying tube) bumps into a cocoprong leaf, it will automatically clamp onto the leaf with the "lips" of its ovipositor and deposit a single egg. The adult cala keryh can deposit up to 40 1 mm-long eggs per day. The eggs are sticky, to keep them on the leaf, and coated in a polysaccharide that makes them resistant to digestion by microbes in the water. (Microbes that eat cala keryh eggs include infinities and sudisflutanses.) If a xatashot eats a leaf with a cala keryh egg on it, the cala keryh egg is swallowed and goes to the stomach, where its polysaccharide layer starts to dissolve. If the cala keryh survives digestion, it passes into the small intestine, where it implants in the mucosa. It is cued by its dissolved polysaccharide layer and hatches, proceeding to grow prongs that hold it to the wall. In about a month it reaches 6 mm in size. At this time, it detaches from the body wall and is eventually passed out in the xatashot's dung. If the dung lands in waterwhich is very likely, considering its habitat---the cala keryh wriggles out of the dung pile with its tentacles and out in the surrounding water. It rapidly undergoes metamorphosis, starting with the development of its digestive system. This priority of the digestive system means it can eat while it's transitioning, fueling its growth and body reconfiguration.

Cala keryhs have the simplicity of flatworms, and the consequent flexibility in cell development. If a cala keryh's limb is chopped off, the limb will eventually regrow. Other similarities are their incomplete digestive system and ability to absorb oxygen through the skin. Adult cala keryhs are flattened, too, but not to the same extent as a flatworm.

Cala keryhs have a very simple nervous system, and don't really have a brain. Swimming, their most complex behavior, is coordinated by barely-visible "nerve strings" in their tentacles. Much of its body is occupied by its reproductive system, which partly shows through its underside as a red blotch. At nighttime, cocoprongs emit different chemicals into the water. This stimuli automatically causes cala keryhs to seek out the source. Many cala keryhs collect at the base of the cocoprong. If their ovipositors bump into each other by chance, they automatically clamp to each other using their "lips". (This is the same reflex as the egg-laying reflex.) They mate, and each becomes gravid. (egg-pregnant)