Common Glubbedo

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Weight:
2lbs

The **Common Glubbedo** (*Siphobracchius attenboroughi*) is an original species created and designed by TheAgent41. The Common Glubbedo inhabits the *The Hole* universe, an original universe created by TheAgent41.

## Appearance and Anatomy

The glubbedo is a free-floating marine organisms belonging to the family Translucidae. They have four-foot, vaguely trumpet-shaped bodies composed of soft translucent flesh. The flesh of the glubbedo is composed primarily of collagen and water and acts as a hydrostatic skeleton. The body of a glubbedo tapers to a point toward the tail, being widest near the mouth.

The mouth is a simple orifice that rhythmically pumps water in and out, filtering out microscopic bits of food with special feathery, gill-like structures located inside the throat. The common glubbedo's digestive tract is incredibly rudimentary, consisting of only a simple stomach-like sac that deposits waste into the tail where it is then released as a liquid through a hole at the tip of the tail.

The glubbedo's most notable anatomical feature is the series of six long, thin tentacles sprouting out from its body in a ring-like arrangement around the mouth. Each of these highly flexible tentacles ends in a muscular siphon like those used by pinnapodes. These siphons are used by the glubbedo for propulsion.

The glubbedo's nervous system is also incredibly simple, being nothing more than a primitive neural net that spreads through the body and tentacles. The respiratory system is largely non-existent with all necessary oxygen being absorbed through the epidermis. Unlike most other Achlysian lifeforms, glubbedos have what could be considered a rudimentary form of sight, being completely covered with as many as 400 primitive, light-detecting cells called ocelli. These can't focus light or discern detailed pictures of their environments, but they can detect subtle differences between intensities of light. These ocelli have made glubbedo prime research specimens, as their existence either indicates that sight is just now evolving in Achlys or that visual sight has nearly gone extinct.

## Ecology

### Behavior and Intelligence

Glubbedos are non-sentient creatures and mostly just react reflexively to external stimuli. The simple nerve net that spreads through the body receives signals from the ocelli, such as sudden changes in light intensity likely caused by incoming predators or obstacles, and sends instantaneous signals to the tentacle siphons, causing them to change direction and speed away. Glubbedos move through the water by rhythmically expanding and contracting their siphons and pumping out water for fast propulsion. Generally, they are slow-moving and are incredibly energy-efficient.

### Diet

Glubbedos are largely carnivorous, but they are categorized as omnivores due to their habit of simply eating anything that is swept into their mouths. The common glubbedo, as one of the smaller glubbedo species, is limited mainly to microscopic organisms and floating pinnapode eggs. Occasionally, the corpses of small pinnapodes such as marleyfish have been discovered within the digestive tracts of glubbedos, but this is rare, largely because common glubbedos rarely venture close enough to reef environments to even encounter marleyfish.

### Reproduction

The common glubbedo doesn't have any form of complex mating ritual as it is largely a solitary species. Over time, glubbedos generate seminal fluid along the inner walls of their tails. When they have generated a certain amount of seminal fluid, they automatically release it into the water behind them through the hole on the tip of their tails. All in all, it takes an adult glubbedo approximately three or four days to accumulate enough sperm to reach their threshold and release it. Given enough time, it is effectively guaranteed that another common glubbedo will inevitably swim through some of this sperm and take it into its mouth.

When the sperm cells realize that they are inside the mouth of another glubbedo, they automatically swim to the reproductive organs, where they fertilize the egg cells. Approximately six hours after fertilization, the glubbedo jettisons the eggs through the hole in its tail and out into the ocean. Provided they are not consumed by another creature, the eggs will eventually hatch into newborn glubbedos that measure only ten millimeters in length. Statistically speaking, only 20% of these offspring are likely to survive to adulthood, but this is combatted by the sheer number of eggs laid at a time (approximately 300) and the glubbedo's lengthy 100-year lifespan. These factors have led Earth scientistis to estimate that the population numbers of *Siphobracchius attenboroughi* alone must be at least 300 million individuals.

## Trivia

* The scientific name *Siphobracchius attenboroughi* loosely translates from Latin as "Attenborough's siphon arm."

## Gallery

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