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Just so you are aware, the development of fear or pain also means the creation of a primitive nervous system. Do with that morsel of knowledge what you wish.
.Suggestion: Cephalization (e.g. evolving a head): Since losing our feeding apparatus means death, this would be the proper place to locate a nerve cluster. If we die from an injury there anyways, why not keep all our vulnerable spots in the same place?
Well, if Cephalization also evolves then that will be the basis for a central nervous system. If it doesn't, then it won't, and the organism will still lack a "head", but will possess a basic ability to feel pain and fear...those things need at least a basic nervous system, or else they are simply not possible. (The statocyst would also be moved to this "head" region should Cephalization evolve.) I understand, however, that Cephalization evolved for important reasons and I will present incentives for the development of a head, and brain, to be created in the future, since they have distinct advantages and not having them has significant disadvantages.
Tl;dr: Evolution of pain/fear=primitive nervous system, evolution of pain/fear+evolution of Cephalization=slightly less primitive nervous system.
Tl;dr: Evolution of pain/fear=primitive nervous system, evolution of pain/fear+evolution of Cephalization=slightly less primitive nervous system.
Suggestion: Cephalization (e.g. evolving a head
+1
Since it looks like not much more is going to happen for the next half hour, I think I'll go ahead and close the voting period early. Votes are being counted now, dice will roll soon.
Venomous Spines: 1+3=4 Success
Ability to Feel Pain: 5+1=6 Great Success
Ability to Feel Fear: 2+3=5 Success
Limited Stem Cell Regeneration: 2+4=6 Great Success
Seeder Tentacles: 1+2=3 No Effect
Venom-Secreting Tentacles: 3+2=5 Success
Mouth/Stomach: 1+5=5 Great Success
Photosynthetic Cells: 0+6=6 Great Success
Tentacle Regeneration: 2+4=6 Great Success
Ability to Bite: 0+5=5 Success
Outer Layer of "Ooze": 0+3=3 No Effect
Bones: 0+3=6 No Effect
Cephalization: 1+2=3 No Effect
Okay...which one of you has been sacrificing sheep to the dice gods?
Generation 4
Organism Name: Red-Spined Floater
Description: The Red-Spined Floater is the most dangerous predator of its enviroment. While a lack of a brain prevents effective hunting, most other floater species simply "bump" into the creature, and are then impaled upon its spines. Red-tipped, the spines deliver a weak neurotoxin that causes temporary paralysis. After the prey is immobolized, the Red-Spined Floater wraps its foot-long tentacles around the animal, and then excretes another venom from specialized cells located on the small outgrowths on its tentacles. This venom quickly kills the prey, which is then devoured by the Floater's mouth and digested via an external stomach. When larger predators threaten the Red-Spined Floater, it can also use the ferocious calcite teeth in its mouth to chomp out chunks of them, giving a violent, bloody death to any external threats. Should anyone damage the Floater, it can heal itself quickly, and even regenerate a tentacle, should it be cut off. This is an incredibly painful process, though, and the Red-Spined Floater has learned to avoid its speedy cousin the Ripper instinctually for its ability to rip off Floater tentacles. Despite being a dangerous predator, the Red-Spined Floater is not purely a carnivore, as some of its cells possess the ability to photosynthesize. This, along with the consumption of algae, is only done in dire circumstances, as after a prolonged period the Floater will die without access to meat. It is also the smallest species of Floater, with a body no more than twenty centimeters long. It's tentacles are larger than most other species, about a foot long, but much less flexible.
Reproduction: Male cells float through the water, covered in protective shells. They attach themselves to adult Floaters and spend the first few months of life growing in a protective casing of armor. Eventually, the armor will recede, and the cells leave their "parent". It takes an additional period of a few months before the offspring reach full size, during which they are not predatory because their venom is not fully developed. Instead, they photosynthesize and feed on algae exclusively until adulthood.
Threats: Many Floaters have evolved into predators. A particularly nasty species is the Ripper, who feasts on a mixture of Gargantuan Blobs and other herbivorous Floater species. In order to kill prey, their tentacles have strong calcite "teeth" that take hold of the flesh of a tentacle, which is then ripped off and eaten by the Ripper. Non-regenerative species are essentially sentenced to death, with only the Red-Spined Floater possessing a countermeasure in the form of limb regeneration. Of the predatory Floaters, the Ripper is by far the most dangerous to the Red-Spined Floater's future.
Environment: A shallow sub-tropical sea. Biodiversity is at an all time-high, with a huge variety of different Floater species. The Gargantuan Blob still exists, but is dwarfed in size by the Bloated Floater, who is nearly four feet in length.
Adaptions: Moveable Feeding Tentacles, Bottom Feeding, Heat Sense, Waste Disposal, Gas Propulsion, Protective Shells for Wandering Male Cells, Protective Armor for Developing Young, Statocyst, Venomous Spines/Tentacles, Fear, Pain, Cell Regeneration, Limb Regeneration, Photosynthesis, Mouth (with biting teeth), Stomach.
Ability to Feel Pain: 5+1=6 Great Success
Ability to Feel Fear: 2+3=5 Success
Limited Stem Cell Regeneration: 2+4=6 Great Success
Seeder Tentacles: 1+2=3 No Effect
Venom-Secreting Tentacles: 3+2=5 Success
Mouth/Stomach: 1+5=5 Great Success
Photosynthetic Cells: 0+6=6 Great Success
Tentacle Regeneration: 2+4=6 Great Success
Ability to Bite: 0+5=5 Success
Outer Layer of "Ooze": 0+3=3 No Effect
Bones: 0+3=6 No Effect
Cephalization: 1+2=3 No Effect
Okay...which one of you has been sacrificing sheep to the dice gods?
Generation 4
Organism Name: Red-Spined Floater
Description: The Red-Spined Floater is the most dangerous predator of its enviroment. While a lack of a brain prevents effective hunting, most other floater species simply "bump" into the creature, and are then impaled upon its spines. Red-tipped, the spines deliver a weak neurotoxin that causes temporary paralysis. After the prey is immobolized, the Red-Spined Floater wraps its foot-long tentacles around the animal, and then excretes another venom from specialized cells located on the small outgrowths on its tentacles. This venom quickly kills the prey, which is then devoured by the Floater's mouth and digested via an external stomach. When larger predators threaten the Red-Spined Floater, it can also use the ferocious calcite teeth in its mouth to chomp out chunks of them, giving a violent, bloody death to any external threats. Should anyone damage the Floater, it can heal itself quickly, and even regenerate a tentacle, should it be cut off. This is an incredibly painful process, though, and the Red-Spined Floater has learned to avoid its speedy cousin the Ripper instinctually for its ability to rip off Floater tentacles. Despite being a dangerous predator, the Red-Spined Floater is not purely a carnivore, as some of its cells possess the ability to photosynthesize. This, along with the consumption of algae, is only done in dire circumstances, as after a prolonged period the Floater will die without access to meat. It is also the smallest species of Floater, with a body no more than twenty centimeters long. It's tentacles are larger than most other species, about a foot long, but much less flexible.
Reproduction: Male cells float through the water, covered in protective shells. They attach themselves to adult Floaters and spend the first few months of life growing in a protective casing of armor. Eventually, the armor will recede, and the cells leave their "parent". It takes an additional period of a few months before the offspring reach full size, during which they are not predatory because their venom is not fully developed. Instead, they photosynthesize and feed on algae exclusively until adulthood.
Threats: Many Floaters have evolved into predators. A particularly nasty species is the Ripper, who feasts on a mixture of Gargantuan Blobs and other herbivorous Floater species. In order to kill prey, their tentacles have strong calcite "teeth" that take hold of the flesh of a tentacle, which is then ripped off and eaten by the Ripper. Non-regenerative species are essentially sentenced to death, with only the Red-Spined Floater possessing a countermeasure in the form of limb regeneration. Of the predatory Floaters, the Ripper is by far the most dangerous to the Red-Spined Floater's future.
Environment: A shallow sub-tropical sea. Biodiversity is at an all time-high, with a huge variety of different Floater species. The Gargantuan Blob still exists, but is dwarfed in size by the Bloated Floater, who is nearly four feet in length.
Adaptions: Moveable Feeding Tentacles, Bottom Feeding, Heat Sense, Waste Disposal, Gas Propulsion, Protective Shells for Wandering Male Cells, Protective Armor for Developing Young, Statocyst, Venomous Spines/Tentacles, Fear, Pain, Cell Regeneration, Limb Regeneration, Photosynthesis, Mouth (with biting teeth), Stomach.
New suggestion/voting period starts now, and ends on Tuesday, December 2 at 7pm EST.
Suggestion: Increased body size
and
Suggestion: Increased number of tentacles.
The more poisonous death traps, the better, right?
and
Suggestion: Increased number of tentacles.
The more poisonous death traps, the better, right?
Suggestion: Evolving gas propulsion into Jet propulsion.
Jet propulsion is, I believe, a more developed form of gas propulsion.
Suggestion: A sense of Pressure.
This will allow us to feel the oceans pressure. Combined with a sense of heat + statocyst this will allow the Red-Spined Floater to know exactly where it is in the ocean.
Jet propulsion is, I believe, a more developed form of gas propulsion.
Suggestion: A sense of Pressure.
This will allow us to feel the oceans pressure. Combined with a sense of heat + statocyst this will allow the Red-Spined Floater to know exactly where it is in the ocean.
Suggestion: Improve our rudimentary Nervous System so that we can now consciously hunt our preys.
Suggestion: Improve our protective Shell: now it doesn't go away with growth but it evolves into a permanent natural armor. Spines would now grow on top of the improved shell while the mouth and the tentacles would grow into specific "holes" of our armor, tentacles can retreat into these holes if the Floater feels endangered.
Suggestion: Improve our protective Shell: now it doesn't go away with growth but it evolves into a permanent natural armor. Spines would now grow on top of the improved shell while the mouth and the tentacles would grow into specific "holes" of our armor, tentacles can retreat into these holes if the Floater feels endangered.
Sexual Reproduction is a perfectly valid suggestion, as is a skeletal structure. Specify.
Suggestion: Photosensitive cell cluster
Suggestion: Nerve cluster/primitive nervous system