Guhnuh: Difference between revisions
imported>Saganmaineiac (New page: {{Species |name = Guhnuh |week = 25 |generation = 157 |creator = Coolsteph |image = Guhnuh.png |extant = |ancestor = Shellflora |size = 14 cm Long ...) |
imported>Saganmaineiac No edit summary |
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|image = Guhnuh.png |
|image = Guhnuh.png |
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|extant = |
|extant = |
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|ancestor = |
|ancestor = Sucker Swarmer |
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|size = |
|size = 1 cm Long |
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|habitat = |
|habitat = LadyM Ocean (Twilight Slope) |
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|habitat2 = |
|habitat2 = LadyM Ocean (Twilight Zone) |
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|habitat3 = |
|habitat3 = Truteal Twilight Sea Mount |
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|habitat4 = King Tropical Beach |
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|diet = Photosynthesis |
|diet = Photosynthesis |
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|reproduction= Asexual, Waterborne Spores |
|reproduction= Asexual, Waterborne Spores |
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The guhnuh has fleshy fins located farther down on its body than its ancestor's fins. This change in position allows the fins to support its weight, letting it "sit" in place. This conserves energy compared to swimming in place, making it a useful adaptation when there is little food. Furthermore, the guhnuh barely moves unless it detects food. |
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The bonecorus grows byssus threads, much like its relative the [[Globby Boneflora|globby boneflora]]. These threads allow it to stick to rocks, and thus resist being washed ashore. The stalk of its ancestor is reduced to a fused nub at its pointed end. Bonecoruses usually cover rocks either at a slanted angle or nearly horizontally, bringing to mind snake scales or roof tiles. Their tendency to densely cover rocks at the intertidal zone is reminescent of barnacles. |
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Its eyes are slightly bigger than its ancestor's, improving its vision in the low light conditions of its habitat. The guhnuh's eyes are always looking upward, as that is where its food comes from. A mutation caused its single eye to duplicate, but the two eyes don't have separate eye sockets. They are joined by a shared "corneal strip" and use the same optic nerve. (The corneal strip is toughened in comparison to the functional corneas.) Its single optic nerve serves two eyes by rapidly alternating which eye it receives signals from. The optic nerve is more developed on the left side, so it starts receiving signals from the left. It then switches to receiving signals to the right eye. The whole alternating process occurs within milliseconds. Despite the delay, the guhnuh's brain ties the two signals into one simultaneous view. Timing "trickery" by its brain makes it unaware of right-eye delays relative to its left eye. In lab conditions, flashing the image of a black square to the left eye for a millisecond, making the black square image blank and then flashing the image of a light grey square to the right eye for a millisecond makes the guhnuh perceive the square it saw as dark grey, since its brain ties what either eye sees within a range of milliseconds into one image. |
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Its heart-shaped part has a skeleton made of calcium carbonate. A velvety layer of living, photosynthesizing tissue, the 'mantle', covers this interior shell. Its spore-branches are reduced to disks of reproductive cells at the base of pores in its mantle. Spores are produced within these pores. This trait of spore production makes the spores slightly more protected. Bonecoruses' spore development is longer than that of its ancestor, allowing the spores to reach larger sizes. (specifically, up to 4 mm) The mantle is covered in a waxy secretion that prevents the germination of spores on its surface. It essentially suffocates the spores by covering the spores to the extent they can no longer receive oxygen or nutrients. (The spore-pores do not have a waxy secretion, as it would get in the way of the individual's own reproduction) |
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[[Image:Guhnuh Diagram.png]] |
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Diagram of guhnuh eye from a top-down perspective. Dark blue: Lens, Medium blue, "Corneal Strip", Light blue: Cornea, Green: Retina, Purple: Optic Nerve. While guhnuhs don't have very complicated eyes, this diagram is still simplified. |
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Guhnuhs have two tooth-like rasps in their mouth, which they use to scrape off food. This is useful for eating every scrap of meat on a sunken carcass or sustaining themselves on the skin flora of delving lyngbakrs. Their mouths are elongated and capable of some sideways articulation, which is useful for eating bits of flesh in hard-to-reach spots. |
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Guhnuhs can still swim, but only poorly. They swim only when they detect food. Once at the feeding site, they prefer to move on their fins. |
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(Perhaps a predator of the guhnuh can exploit the way its brain works while simultaneously making itself highly visible to its conspecifics. It would make its entire body flash black and then light grey very rapidly to blend in with a dark grey background, making it appear to match the background for the guhnuh and look like a strobe light to conspecifics.) |
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Bonecoruses' threads are so strong that dead bonecoruses are often found clinging to the same rock they clung to when alive. When the spore-trapping secretion decays, other bonecorus spores are able to germinate on the dead bonecorus. The spore-trapping secretion decays faster than the mantle in general, so bonecoruses can germinate on dead individuals before those individuals appear definitely deceased. |
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Revision as of 01:52, 17 June 2015
| Guhnuh | ||
|---|---|---|
| (Shellphyta valentina) | ||
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| Information | ||
| Creator | Coolsteph Other | |
| Week/Generation | 25/157 | |
| Habitat | LadyM Ocean (Twilight Slope) | |
| Size | 1 cm Long | |
| Primary Mobility | Unknown | |
| Support | Unknown | |
| Diet | Photosynthesis | |
| Respiration | Unknown | |
| Thermoregulation | Unknown | |
| Reproduction | Asexual, Waterborne Spores | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Genus Species | Eukaryota Shellphyta Shellphyta valentina | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
|---|---|
The guhnuh has fleshy fins located farther down on its body than its ancestor's fins. This change in position allows the fins to support its weight, letting it "sit" in place. This conserves energy compared to swimming in place, making it a useful adaptation when there is little food. Furthermore, the guhnuh barely moves unless it detects food.
Its eyes are slightly bigger than its ancestor's, improving its vision in the low light conditions of its habitat. The guhnuh's eyes are always looking upward, as that is where its food comes from. A mutation caused its single eye to duplicate, but the two eyes don't have separate eye sockets. They are joined by a shared "corneal strip" and use the same optic nerve. (The corneal strip is toughened in comparison to the functional corneas.) Its single optic nerve serves two eyes by rapidly alternating which eye it receives signals from. The optic nerve is more developed on the left side, so it starts receiving signals from the left. It then switches to receiving signals to the right eye. The whole alternating process occurs within milliseconds. Despite the delay, the guhnuh's brain ties the two signals into one simultaneous view. Timing "trickery" by its brain makes it unaware of right-eye delays relative to its left eye. In lab conditions, flashing the image of a black square to the left eye for a millisecond, making the black square image blank and then flashing the image of a light grey square to the right eye for a millisecond makes the guhnuh perceive the square it saw as dark grey, since its brain ties what either eye sees within a range of milliseconds into one image.
Diagram of guhnuh eye from a top-down perspective. Dark blue: Lens, Medium blue, "Corneal Strip", Light blue: Cornea, Green: Retina, Purple: Optic Nerve. While guhnuhs don't have very complicated eyes, this diagram is still simplified.
Guhnuhs have two tooth-like rasps in their mouth, which they use to scrape off food. This is useful for eating every scrap of meat on a sunken carcass or sustaining themselves on the skin flora of delving lyngbakrs. Their mouths are elongated and capable of some sideways articulation, which is useful for eating bits of flesh in hard-to-reach spots.
Guhnuhs can still swim, but only poorly. They swim only when they detect food. Once at the feeding site, they prefer to move on their fins.
(Perhaps a predator of the guhnuh can exploit the way its brain works while simultaneously making itself highly visible to its conspecifics. It would make its entire body flash black and then light grey very rapidly to blend in with a dark grey background, making it appear to match the background for the guhnuh and look like a strobe light to conspecifics.)