Eastern Kakzul Artijino Camptoceras striatus
Classification:
A small, cold-blooded creature, the eastern kakzul artijino is a venomous denizen of Eastern Kakzul. It is about 2.5 feet long and 1.75 feet tall when it reaches adulthood, and weighs about 4 pounds. Their red skin has a bumpy, scaleless texture and is marked with black stripes. They may live up to 8 years, reaching maturity in about 9 months from hatching. They breathe through 4 vents on their throat, which deliver oxygen to a multi-sectioned lung in their body. This lung, and other internal organs, are protected by a shell-like lattice of bone that surrounds their chest cavity. They produce calls from an openning on the top of their head, which makes sounds by vibrating plates like a computer speaker.
- Kingdom: Paranimalia
- Phylum: Siphota
- Class: Corpostomia
- Order: Artijinomorpha
- Family: Diplocultellidae
- Genus: Camptoceras
- Species: striatus
They have two legs, and a curved tail that acts as if it were an extra leg used for jumping. Using such a hopping gait, they can reach 20 miles per hour in a sprint. Despite this, they prefer a sit-and-wait strategy instead of active hunting. They find their prey's habitat through smell, which is provided by the two antennae that protrude from their head. After waiting, a prey item may wander too closely to the camoflauged artijino. If this occurs, the creature will strike downward with the venomous horn on its head, poisoning the prey with a neurotoxin. After the prey escapes and dies, the artijino follows its scent and slices its flesh into pieces with its opposable claws. It can then be ingested through the mouth on the creature's chest.
Artijinoes have only 1 gender, which is called the "isomale". Isomales have only one set of reproductive organs, but they can reproduce with any other isomale. When two artijinoes meet, they each deposit an "isogamete" on the ground. This purple blob contains the genetic material. They then consume each other's isogametes, which are then tested for fitness via the artijino's sense of taste. If it tastes right, it is allowed to enter the reproductive passage, where it fuses with one of that artijino's own isogametes to produce a zygote. If not, it enters the stomach, where it is digested. After fully developing, the single egg is layed through the creature's mouth and deposited in a secluded location. The newly hatched artijino is self-sufficient and venomous. Artijinoes can reproduce year-round.
Giant Floof Floovum giganteus
Classification:The largest creature on the planet by volume, this huge invertebrate can reach a maximum length of 102 feet. Despite its enormous size, it has very little mass, because its body contains much more hydrogen gas than flesh. Unlike any animals on Earth, the giant floof spends the entirety of its lifetime in the sky. Since it never needs to land, it does not have legs. In order to deal with the ultraviolet rays it is constantly exposed to, the floof's skin contains reflective pigments and has great regenerative properties. Their bodies are too light to be tough, so they rely on skin toxins to deter predators.
- Kingdom: Paranimalia
- Phylum: Atmohabita
- Class: Aeolichthys
- Order: Orthopinna
- Family: Floovidae
- Genus: Floovum
- Species: giganteus
Its propulsion is provided by two thrusters along its sides. Unlike jet engines, these thrusters rely merely on pressure and do not burn fuel of any kind. A series of muscular sacs inside the thrusters draw air into the openings near the floof's head. Then, these sacs contract to push the air out of the nozzles at the rear of the creature. These thrusters are not very strong, and can only move the animal at a speed of 15 miles per hour. It intentionally avoid locations with strong winds, because it would easily be blown around by these winds. It's thrusters are not strong enough to counter such things.
Technically, the giant floof is an omnivore, as it feeds on various airborne organic objects called "aeroplankton". This aeroplankton is composed mainly of tiny photosynthetic organisms and heterotrophic organisms. They are also held aloft by hydrogen. Ultimately, all of the hydrogen in a floof's body comes from this aeroplankton. It has no need to chew its food, so it has no teeth or jaws. Its mouth simply opens and scoops up these atmospheric organisms.
Giant flooves can be male or female, with the female being about 20 feet longer than the male. The males have sides that are adorned with bioluminescent patches of color, which are used to attract females. Mating can occur at any time in the year. They mate rear-to-rear, afterwhich the female goes through a lengthy pregnancy. They usually produce only one offspring, which is born alive and is self-sufficient.
Great Black Sea Serpent Latipleuros melanoleucus
Classification:
The great black sea serpent is the largest currently-living carnivore on Temori. It's serpentine body can grow up to 34 feet in length, and weigh in at 20,000 pounds. They have a pair of openings on their sides which filter oxygen from the water. The filtered water is released from another pair of vents further down the creature's body. The majority of Hydroverms have very absorptive skin, making them intolerant to sea water. However, the great black sea serpent and its relatives have developed markedly thicker, and less permeable, skin. For this reason, they can prowl the oceans with ease. However, they are still cold-blooded, and must therefore remain in warm waters. They can be found in almost any part of the oceans along the equator. They rarely venture near the coast.
- Kingdom: Paranimalia
- Phylum: Siphota
- Class: Hydrovermes
- Order: Macrosmilos
- Family: Trismilidae
- Genus: Latipleuros
- Species: melanoleucus
Sea serpents are top predators, and they rely on an extremely acute sense of smell to locate their prey. When striking, the sea serpent makes quick movements with its powerful tail, giving it high acceleration. Its three fangs are unfolded and plunged into the prey's body at the last moment. These fangs can induce serious trauma to internal organs and cause prodigious blood loss, which is the sea serpent's preferred method of killing. It is normally able to hold on its prey with its strong fangs, but if it escapes, the sea serpent can follow the scent of its blood. The size of their prey is relatively limited, since they must swallow their food whole. However, their throats can expand to accomodate large meals. A human could easily be consumed.
They are isomales and can reproduce with any other individual. They find one-another through scent, and often mate upon meeting. They mate mouth-to-mouth, with their fangs interlocking in a staggered formation. One of them ejects a stream of isogametes from their throat, while the other receives them. A similar "fitness test" can be administered to the received isogametes as the artijino uses. After fertilization and egg maturation, a series of up to 10 eggs may be released from the mouth of the sea serpent, which are allowed to fall to the ocean floor. The young are self-sufficient upon hatching.
Lime Seadart Maritojaculum chlorum
Classification:
The lime seadart is a streamlined predator native to the Thesh Sea. These cold-blooded invertebrates can grow to 2.5 feet long, and weigh 3 pounds. Their skin is slippery, due to its smooth nature and a thin layer of oil that it secretes. As well as allowing them to go faster, their slick skin makes it difficult for other predators to catch them. They have two, hemispherical, compound eyes that are sensitive to light levels and movement. Their eyes cannot blink, nor can they see color.
- Kingdom: Paranimalia
- Phylum: Siphota
- Class: Jetichthys
- Order: Aculingua
- Family: Aculinguidae
- Genus: Maritojaculum
- Species: chlorum
The seadart moves via jet propulsion, similar in many ways to the thrusters used by the giant floof. Muscular action pulls water into the circular opening behind their heads, which passes though the sheath around their bodies, then out of another circular opening near their four tailfins. These fins help guide the direction of the flow, and thus the direction of the seadart's movement. It can move up to 20 miles per hour. As this water flows through the thrusting sheath, it passes over a network of gill-like structures located within the sheath. This supplies oxygen to the seadart.
The sharp protrusion on the seadart's head is not a horn, but is rather its tongue. The tongue is rigid and strong, and is used to impale desired meals. When a prey item is located, the seadart thrusts forward with a burst of speed to scewer the hapless creature. It then greatly expands its mouth opening (which is elastic and lacks jaws) to allow the prey item to be brought into its mouth. It does this by retracting its tongue, dragging the punctured prey inside with it. After the mouth closes behind the tongue, very strong acids and enzymes in the seadart's saliva begin to dissolve the prey immediately. Within minutes, the food is fluid enough to be swallowed into the stomach. The tongue is then extruded through the mouth once more.
There are male and female seadarts, although they look the same on the outside. Much like fish on Earth, they spawn in large groups, ejecting clouds of sperm and eggs through their mouths. After the eggs are fertilized, they will hatch into self-sufficient larvae. Over time, the larvae grow into adult lime seadarts.
Modern Serlisk Serliska gregarium
Classification:
A large, semi-aquatic creature, the modern serlisk is the most intelligent and technologically-advanced creature on Temori. Their skin is moist and cannot tolerate either drying-out or salty water. They breathe through openings under their heads, which can be used to gather oxygen from either water or air. They smell via two vent-laden bumps below their eyes, which work best underwater. They are short-sighted, but they possess excellent hearing. They speak by vibrating plates in their heads, which allows them to emulate a wide variety of sounds. Thus, their language is very complex.
- Kingdom: Paranimalia
- Phylum: Siphota
- Class: Hydrovermes
- Order: Cirronycha
- Family: Communisidae
- Genus: Serliska
- Species: gregarium
There are two kinds of serlisks, the "leaders" and the "workers". The leaders have brown backs with a white belly, whereas the workers have green striping on their backs and a light green belly. Both of these types are 6 feet long at maturity, but the leaders average 60 pounds while the workers weigh 80 pounds. The difference between these two types is genetic. The leaders are the more intelligent of the two, which have advanced creative and inventive abilities. The workers, which are more muscular and stronger than the leaders, lack such abilities but can understand complex instructions well.
This differentiation has lead to a caste society. The leaders make political decisions, develop new ideas and inventions, and do research. The workers perform all of the laborous tasks of society, including construction and machine maintenance. The workers are born with an instinct to completely follow the instruction of the leaders without question. As a matter of fact, they enjoy working for the leaders. They are so convicted, that it would be just as hard for a worker to disobey a leader as it would be for a "normal" human to commit murder. They simply couldn't bring themselves to do it. However, this doesn't mean that the leaders are merciless slave-drivers. They take great efforts to ensure that the workers have adequate food, water, rest and sleep. The leaders are greatly dependent on the workers, and so could not afford for them to be unhealthy.
Leaders are capable of asexually laying eggs at will, which always hatch into new workers. A single leader could theoretically produce a large colony of workers by themself. When the need arises for a new leader, a currently-living leader will choose two workers that will reproduce. Like artijinoes, workers are isomales. One worker produces an isogamete, which is consumed by and subsequently fertilizes the other worker. The result of the hatching egg is a new leader. All hatchlings are helpless and need to be tended by the workers.
Serlisks are omnivores capable of eating both foliage and flesh. Their opposable claws make it easy to slice food up into edible pieces. These same claws, in addition to their dextrous tentacles and large brains, have allowed the serlisks to develop into a space-faring species. They currently have bases on many of the planets and satellites in the Peradis System.