Pisceius
Some half a kilometer bellow the surface a strange creatures scoops up marine snow, a mix of dead flesh, zooplankton, and excrement. It's big eyes collect what little light exists, and it's furry seeming tail beats up and down to get at what oxygen is to be found so far from any photosynthetic life. [Creature design by Kipzilla]
Basic Information
Anatomy
Pisceius has a strange mouth, its split into three parts, the lower two parts are large pieces of skin that are able to be moved freely to catch a load of microorganisms, its top part however is different, it has a large rigid structure on top of its skinpiece wich acts as a frame that keeps the top part from flipping over and accidentally tearing off.
It is also notable for evolving a large hairy tail, these hairs are used for breathing and gas exchange, it slowly moves its tail up and down to get the most exchange and for a bit of extra speed.
Bobird's four limbs have evolved into large flat wings, these make pisceius able to float graciously in the water and make it quite agile.
The rest of its internals and externals are either only slightly evolved or stayed the same.
Genetics and Reproduction
Pisceius like his ancestor has a contest of strength to establish which one will lay eggs and which one will fertilize them. They will swim with their belly’s facing towards each other, then they will try to get and push themselves into a position above the other. After a while of staying below the one on the bottom will give up and accept insemination from the larger or stronger organism, less dominant organism's eggs will then be fertilized. After a few minutes the newly gravid pisceius will release its fertilized eggs into the ocean to drift off and grow into new pisceius.
Growth Rate & Stages
The eggs of pisceius are light enough to float for long times, up to 2 weeks in the ocean, like this the eggs will develop for 9 days, after which it will hatch and a small pisceius will emerge resembling its adult form. They will immediately start hunting for plankton and other microorganisms.
After a local year and a half it will be big enough to reproduce itself and will be nearly full grown.
Ecology and Habitats
Pisceius specializes in feeding on marine snow in the mesopelagic zone, being most common from 300 to 800 meters bellow the surface. On some nights when there are large scale spawning events from broadcast spawning organisms they will come up near the surface to try to get extra food in the form of the gametes and embryos. But this is also the time when the they are most vulnerable to being eaten by open water predators such as Xenopistris or nightstalkers.
Additional Information
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Pisceius can be found in mesopelagic waters outside of polar regions.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Scientific Name
Walvissus pisceius
Origin/Ancestry
Psuedotetrapoda
Lifespan
29 local years
Average Length
1 m
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