Two-Eyed Volox
From Sagan 4 Alpha Wiki
| Two-Eyed Volox | ||
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| (Binoculogyrinus refulgibucca) | ||
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| Information | ||
| Creator | OviraptorFan Other | |
| Week/Generation | 27/167 | |
| Habitat | Drake Water Table, Bono Flood Caves (Nonphotic), Bono Flood Caves (Photic) (Photic) (Nocturnal Visitors) | |
| Size | 30 centimeters long | |
| Primary Mobility | Unknown | |
| Support | Endoskeleton (Bone) | |
| Diet | Carnivore (Cavepedes, Obscurpedes) | |
| Respiration | Passive (Skin-Breathing) | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Sexual, Two Sexes, Frog-like Eggs Laid In The Water | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Kingdom Phylum Superclass Clade Class Order Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Carpozoa Spondylozoa Anisoscelida Tetrapodes Saurochelones (info) Refulgisauria Nothogyrinidae Binoculogyrinus Binoculogyrinus refulgibucca | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
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Having split off from their ancestor, the two-eyed volox has become a specialist in hunting cave-dwelling krillipedes. Unlike most cave-dwelling creatures, the two-eyed volox does not rely on smell, taste, electroreception, nor touch to find its prey, instead using sight to navigate its environment. While most other voloxes also rely on sight, the two-eyed volox has improved its navigation skills by developing a pair of bioluminescent patches of skin under the first pair of eyes. With these glowing patches, the two-eyed volox essentially has a pair of flashlights illuminating its environment, which also means its prey stick out like sore thumbs when they might otherwise be invisible. If it does spot prey, the two-eyed volox quickly undulates their tail for a burst of speed, using an enlarged dorsal fin to remain stable during the chase. Once close enough, the snapper will rapidly open up its jaws to create suction, dragging its anipede prey into the mouth. There, the rows of backward-pointing teeth on the upper palate will snag onto the victim and prevent its escape once the mouth snaps shut. After that, the tongue will push the meal down the throat, possessing large bumps to get a grip on the anipede.
While it itself uses light to hunt for prey, the two-eyed volox also possesses adaptations to better hide itself from predators. Though it can still change its coloration, the two-eyed volox remains a darkish red in coloration. This coloration makes the species far more difficult to spot in the darkness, which gets further complimented by the species turning its lights off. Like the cave volox they evolved from, the two-eyed volox can flicker its lights in a similar fashion to fireflies, setting off a chemical reaction between luciferin and luciferase with oxygen to create light. Much like those very same fireflies, the two-eyed volox can also turn these lights off by regulating the flow of oxygen to their bioluminescent skin patches. While the ability to flicker their lights is mostly used for communication between members of the same species, two-eyed voloxes can also flash these lights in rapid succession while also deliberately changing their skin color in a wave-like ripple through the skin, which in turn can confuse a predator and leave it stunned long enough for the snapper to flee.
Much like their ancestor, the two-eyed volox perform mating displays, though these involve flashing their lights in certain sequences rather than changing color. If a female minds a male to be a suitable mate, she will expel her frog-like eggs for him to fertilize. Once that is done, the two separate and leave the eggs to their fate. A large portion of the eggs and the resulting young are eaten by predators such as other varieties of volox, which is why two-eyed volox produce thousands of eggs at a time, so the chances of at least a few youngsters reaching maturity are as high as possible. The species is, however, capable of producing fewer amounts of eggs if there is less predation pressures on a certain population since more young would naturally reach adulthood. This is especially the case for populations that dwell in the Bono Flood Caves, where predators were completely absent when the species first colonized the cave. As such, the populations in the Bono Flood Caves on average only produce a few hundred to just one thousand eggs compared to the several thousand produced by populations that dwell in the Drake Water Table. With no predators to worry about, two-eyed volox found in the Bono Flood Caves are highly abundant within the Nonphotic zone, though the species only comes into the Photic zone of the cave at night when the bright shining sun that irritates their sensitive eyes is absent.
Much like the ancient tablesnappers the species traces their ancestry to, the two-eyed volox is still subject to parasitism from the snapperworm. Indeed, when their hosts colonized the Bono Flood Caves, the snapperworms went with them and as such can be found in both the Nonphotic and Photic zones of the Bono Flood Caves.