Nibbling Kelpeg
| Nibbling Kelpeg | ||
|---|---|---|
| (Mordillulus microankylobrachium) | ||
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| 21/?, unknown cause | ||
| Information | ||
| Creator | Somarinoa Other | |
| Week/Generation | 18/120 | |
| Habitat | Jujubee Ocean (Sunlight Zone) | |
| Size | Microscopic | |
| Primary Mobility | Unknown | |
| Support | Unknown | |
| Diet | Herbivore (Hitchhiker Hydroglobes, Symboather, Crastrum, Squarenet Crastrum, Arctic Seaflower, Cleaner Crastrum) | |
| Respiration | Unknown | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Sexual, Spores, One Sex | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Proboscata Cnidoliozoa Cnidocerata Cnidolida Mordillulidae Mordillulus Mordillulus microankylobrachium | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
|---|---|
While most kelpeg were content spending their existences feeding upon the multitude of microscopic autotrophs that filled the waters of the Jujubee Ocean's surface, some eventually "upgraded" their diet to include the larger autotrophs, before finally leaving behind their old diet altogether and splitting from the rest of their kind in the formation of the nibbling kelpegs.
Their new diet of larger flora has allowed them to make an understandable leap in overall average size, essentially providing them with bodies twice that of their ancestors. To feed easier on their meals, their beaks have hardened through the use of cytoskeleton, which almost completely fills the beak itself to make it nearly as hard as possible at this stage of its existence. Their arms have also evolved: while still somewhat stubby like their extant brethren, they have grown somewhat in length. No longer used to grapple with foes like it did in its more distant ancestor, Cnidolium simplistica, they are now used to hold themselves onto the flora while they feed upon it. This is aided thanks to an adaptation of several cnidocytes that now line their arms, which no longer fire into an opponent, but have formed into tiny and permanent hooks, which instead pierce the flora to keep it latched on. Their eyesight has also improved somewhat in the case that they lose their grip on their floral prey, such as during storms, to hopefully prevent their starvation.
During some seasons every few years or so, the nibbling kelpeg populations can bloom into vast swarms called "slicks", which can stain the waters the color of their cytoplasm, due to the massive numbers. While not normally particularly harmful to the floral organisms that they feed off of due to size difference, during these periods they can become severe marine pests, killing much of the floral life they come in contact with simply due to the much larger numbers now available for feeding. This can be inadvertently detrimental to other species too as there is less flora to go around, which makes that particular season harsher on nearly all other creatures. Despite this, they are not harmful enough to cause the threat of extinction of any other species on their own, and often the slicks will have dissipated within anywhere from a week to a month as they are consumed by predators combined with a few starved individuals.
Their dual flagella are slightly more prominent than in their ancestor, and thanks in whole to the species' dire need for them should they ever leave their first floral 'host', they have a simple technique to prevent them becoming damaged by outside means. This involves each flagellum being curled along the side of the body when the nibbling kelpeg is attached and feeding, where they fit into very tiny grooves in the organism's membrane created from a hardening of cytoskeleton in those areas. This prevents them from being accidentally absorbed into the body due to coming in contact with their normally acidic cellular membrane. Their sides are still lined with cnidocytes, albeit in fewer numbers since so many have migrated to the arms. These are strictly for defensive purposes only.