Animalia Novi

This is a list of **Animalia Novi** (Animals) that can be found on planet Gliese 677Cc:

## Myomitia (Soft Bodies)

Spore Catcher - *Legulus Striatus*Bivalve Bloomvane - *Bivalvia Felfilum*Slow Mason - *Lapidarius Lentus*
### **Spore Catcher**

Small, agile creatures which can be found in southern areas of the Central Reef feeding on reef stalk spores.

**Observations**

Spore catchers are small, soft-bodied creatures which move quickly through the water by using siphon-jets.

Their mantles, striped with bright colours that shift as they swim, allow the creatures to modify their movement through the water with precise flapping motions. Watching them navigate the water is hypnotic, their rapid turns and loops showing incredible agility, flitting through the water like a bat or bird.

Spore catchers use this wide range of movement to pursue the various fungal spores that are produced by the reef's stalks. The spore catchers seem to be highly selective about which spores they wish to consume, suggesting that analysis of the stalk spores might tell us more about the spore catcher's behaviour and diet.

**Behaviour**

Analysis of the unique chemical compounds found in stalk spores, and a wider understanding of how stalks use spores to communicate, suggests a more mutual relationship between spore catchers and stalks than initially assumed.

If stalks are able to tailor the chemical makeup of their spores, it is possible that the select spores the catchers eat are intended for their consumption, and contain compounds and minerals attractive to this species. As spore catchers use their color- shifting properties to hide among stalk colonies, it seems increasingly possible that stalk colonies and spore catchers are mutualistically linked, and catchers serve the needs of specific stalk patches.

What those needs are, however, is not yet clear. Analysis of a spore catcher egg, if found, may help us gain a full picture of their physiology.

**Theories**

Analysis of the spore catcher egg shows a strong correlation between the minerals it contains and the minerals present within the catcher's favoured spores.

It seems that through the spores, stalks are able to affect the catcher's egg-production, therefore controlling the volume, traits and behaviour of catchers within any area of the reef. In a sense, the stalks have domesticated the catchers, leaving the two intrinsically linked as species!

But the question of what the catchers provide the stalks remains. Do catchers serve a specific purpose (consuming unwanted or incorrectly configured spores for example) or are they kept for other reasons? Could the catchers be kept by the stalks for their companionship, and social use, just as humans keep pets?

### **Bivalve Bloomvane**

Shelled creatures encountered within The Bloom feeding on the area's microbial growth. The player can use previously collected items to create an opportunity for Bloomvanes to establish a feeding zone, serving as an area free of The Bloom's debuff.

**Observations**

Bloomvanes conceal themselves in bronze-coloured shells most of the time, only coming out when the opportunity to feed presents itself.

Highly attuned to the currents and flows of The Bloom, bivalve bloomvanes take advantage of any break in The Bloom's flow to unfold from their shells and feed. They feed primarily on The Bloom's microbial growth itself, able to quickly establish and maintain a 'feeding-zone' of oxygenated water. When a bloomvane tires it will then retreat back into its shell, burying itself in the silt once more.

I would like to understand more about how the bloomvanes are able to feed directly on the microbes of The Bloom, considering the extremely high toxicity, perhaps something we uncover here could be useful for future expeditions into the unforgiving landscape of The Bloom.

**Behaviour**

Sampling and analysing bubble-growths from The Bloom shows that they are a form of algae, but with incredible adaptability.

They have a distinctive chemical structure, but notable to the study of bloomvanes is the presence of a compound similar to domoic acid within bloom bubbles. Domoic acid is a neurotoxin known to produce memory-loss and confusion in animals, which suggests that the erratic and frantic feeding behaviour of bloomvanes when feeding is, in reality, a form of frenzy brought on by the consumption of the neurotoxin.

How this process isn't deadly to the bloomvanes is unclear, the volumes of neurotoxin they are consuming are vast, enough to kill a human adult. Perhaps if I can directly examine a bloomvane, or at least its shell, I can understand their resistance.

**Theories**

After being lucky enough to come across an entire bloomvane shell, analysis has provided some possible explanations for the creature's neurotoxin resistance.

The shell itself was found to have radial patterns of tiny holes in certain areas, all of which were found to have a high

concentration of The Bloom neurotoxin. It seems that when the bloomvane is in its 'hidden' resting state it exudes the neurotoxin through its shell, processing the glucose in the bloom growths separately.

This exuded neurotoxin coats the bloomvane's shell and the surrounding area, making the creature potentially deadly to any predator. This adaptation to The Bloom is therefore a highly effective defense mechanism, even if the bloomvane itself is constantly on the edge of a frenzied, neurotoxin-induced death.

### **Slow Mason**

Formless creatures of no colour which feed upon the facility in The Anomaly. They etch elaborate spirals into its walls, most probably as a way of basic communication.

**Observations**

Slow masons are colourless polyps covered in waving cilia, which etch elaborate spirals into the facility they feed upon.

These pale, formless creatures are solitary but not exclusively so; some accumulate together in groups, hugging against each other's mass. There appears to be no obvious chemical exchange or communication within these groups, but perhaps the patterns they form as they eat serve some social purpose?

Their exteriors show frequent evidence of consumption by other species, with no obvious method of defence. Upon being threatened by pressure, the polyps recoil, but do not appear to possess the ability to flee rapidly nor fight back. Perhaps sampling their secretions might help us to understand the underlying patterns.

**Behaviour**

﻿Analysis of the patterns secreted by the slow masons suggests something close to rudimentary communication. There are repeated motifs created by multiple members of the species, unlikely to have emerged simply from their natural movement and feeding patterns.

Due to their slow pace, it would take an extensive amount of time to determine and prove a correlation between rhythmic alterations in the pattern and events faced by the polyps. Whether they represent warnings, a form of social engagement, or markers of potential nutrient sources, remains unclear.

But how are these patterns perceived by the other masons? Without any obvious eyes they cannot see them, but perhaps, like braille, these secretions are read by touch alone.

**Theories**

﻿Analysis of the strange molted skin I found in the Arcology caves shows it is clearly formed from the flesh of slow masons.

Within the tissue, the bodies of multiple polyps have knitted together over the span of decades. Forming one larger communal layer, it may have provided protection, or perhaps it was the birthing sac for some larger, unknown form?

Shed skin can represent evidence of renewal or transformation; perhaps the polyps are not mature, but are a larval stage of the species, with each member uniting to form a larger being. As of yet, I have found no trace of this matured form of mason, but the cave networks of the ocean floor could hide many creatures that could easily evade discovery.

## Arthropelta (Jointed Shells)

Stalk Scraper - *Nubilus Strigilis*Nesting Weavers - *Polymitarius Gregis*Lung Crest - *Pulmodorsum Cristatum*Abyssal Sailshell - *Crustavelum Abyssi*Brine Strider - *Colobathrarius Latus*
### **Stalk Scraper**

Large shelled creatures feeding on stalk colonies, living in southern parts of the Central Reef. Their shells become larger and thicker as they consume more stalk membranes, which symbolises their social importance.

**Observations**

﻿Stalk scrapers are large translucent-shelled creatures, with a distinctive swimming motion, which feed primarily on stalk colonies.

Surprisingly nimble, despite their size, stalk scrapers use some of their modified limbs to swim through the water and others to scrape away the chitinous membrane of the stalks. This is tolerated by the stalks to some degree, although they will also deploy shrillsacs to scare the scrapers away.

Stalk scrapers seem to be one of the more socially active of the reef creatures, and will call to each other when grazing or when frightened. Each specimen has a unique 'cloud' pattern on its shell, I wonder how these are formed, and what their significance is within communities?

**Behaviour**

﻿Analysis of stalk bark shows that it is chitin-based as suspected, containing glucose and high levels of polysaccharides.

This makes it an ideal food source for the scrapers, but not only this, it makes stalk membrane a vital substance for lichen scraper shell formation. The more stalk membrane consumed, the larger and thicker a scraper shell will become, which explains the variance in scraper shell size and translucency.

Going further, shells may also be markers of a stalk scraper's importance within the community. A larger shell means a more effective grazer, and therefore a more preferable partner. Further analysis of scraper shells is needed to continue this line of inquiry.

**Theories**

﻿Chemical analysis of a stalk scraper shell confirms that not only are they made from stalk membrane materials, their distinctive 'cloudy' colouration comes from stalks too!

Stalk coloration, like most fungal coloration, is reflective of the local water acidity and the medium the fungus grows in. This variance of amber, orange, yellow and even green pigments is passed directly to scraper shells when consumed, resulting in beautiful whorls and blobs of color. A scraper's shell is a living record of every stalk colony it has fed on, and therefore a marker of territory and social standing.

Scraper shells could be used to help study the entire reef and its shifting ecosystem, each one a chemical map of the local history, readable for those who can learn the significance of its forms.

### **Nesting Weaver**

Extremelly small and fast shelled creatures from within The Bloom where they build their nests. The player can harvest some of those animals and deploy them within The Bloom in order to create an area protected from this area's debuffs.

**Observations**

﻿Weavers are creatures found in The Bloom, where they build elaborate cylindrical nests, protected by bubbles of oxygenated water.

Iridescent and translucent, weavers themselves are difficult to observe individually due to their size and speed. Each nest is a hive of activity, as is the fizzing skin of the bubbles that protect them, which the weavers carefully maintain. If at any point the integrity of that bubble seems to be collapsing, many weavers will rapidly respond, leaving the nest in swarms to rebuild the bubble's skin.

What is it that the weavers are protecting, and how are they shielding themselves so effectively from The Bloom? Analysis of individual weavers might help, if we are able to catch some of them.

**Behaviour**

﻿Analysis of weaver specimens shows them to be shelled creatures with a set of jointed mandibles, which they use to handle their 'threads'.

These threads are the most fascinating aspect of the weavers. They are silk, but lined with a type of bacteria which lives inside the mouthparts of the weaver. When the threads are produced, they are coated with this bacteria, which aggressively consumes the microbial growth of The Bloom. When not producing silk, this bacteria is kept alive by scavenging on the food that the weavers eat, taking their share from particles stuck on the weavers' mouthparts.

However, analysis of the weavers themselves still gives no idea of what might lie in their nest. They protect these nests aggressively, but if I could find an abandoned one, it may be possible to sample it.

**Theories**

﻿The pieces of weaver nest we found offer an insight into the weaver's protective behaviour. Wrapped in its threads are thousands of weaver eggs!

This suggests that like ants or termites, weavers are a eusocial species, with many generations of weavers protecting and maintaining a singular, productive female. These weaver queens must be somewhere within the active weaver nests, protected by layers of silken threads and weaver workers.

Nest fragments also revealed that the weavers farm their own food within the nest structure, carefully maintaining tubular 'fields' of microbes, which through the weavers' careful cultivation, seem to produce oxygen rather than the toxins that poison The Bloom. How can this be possible?

### **Lungcrest**

Shelled crab-like creatures carrying bubbles on their back, which allow them to survive in the Brine Pools. They feed through chewing silt and rock, each within their own territory.

**Observations**

﻿Lungcrests resemble large crabs in their basic anatomy, though they are instantly recognisable by the large, multi-chambered bubbles they carry on their backs.

The function of these bubbles is unclear, but each individual produces slightly different bubble forms, and individuals have also been observed with their bubbles at different levels of inflation. They seem to be filled with gas, but without analysing one directly, we cannot know which gases.

To feed, lungcrests use their complex mouthparts to chew-up silt and rock, slowly and systematically working through their territory. These territories seem to be unique to each creature, and I have yet to see one lungcrest trespassing on another individual's 'garden'. A direct sample of their mucus bubbles might help us understand more about their behaviour.

**Behaviour**

﻿After finding a 'shed' lungcrest bubble, it has been possible to analyse its contents.

The majority of the bubble is filled with oxygen, with some amounts of methane, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. It seems that in its processing of minerals and compounds found in the silt and rock of the ocean floor lungcrests are able to produce and process these gases, perhaps with the help of a bacterial symbiont living inside their bodies. But what are they producing these bubbles for?

It could be that they are defensive structures, able to be shed and popped when the relatively slow-moving and vulnerable lungcrests need to escape. But then why the carefully managed cocktail of gases? Further investigation is needed, in particular, we should look to inspect a lungcrest shell.

**Theories**

﻿Sampling a lungcrest shell has made the function of their mucus- lined bubbles clear.

After seeing lungcrests scavenging around, and even entering into the brine pools, it seems obvious that their bubbles are in fact natural scuba gear, allowing them to move around the anoxic environment of the brine lake. The shell confirms this, with a clear 'vent' in the shell which allows the lungcrest to access the gas within the bubble without breaking it. This unique evolution means that despite their slow speed and sheer ignorance of what goes on around them, lungcrests are highly resilient, their thick shells and bubble crests together forming a kind of analogue of my own dive suit.

I'll be sure to say hello to these fellow divers the next time we visit the brine lake.

### Abyssal Sailshell

A rather fast animal which feeds on particles of nutrients, found within The Anomaly region. They seem to be relying on the Snare Veils to attract, trap and produce tiny particles that the Sailshells feed on.

**Observations**

These shelled creatures, with their large translucent tails, are surprisingly fast for animals of their kind.

Occasionally spotted weaving between veils in the deep, they use this speed as a way of evading the slow moving tangles. They are also dark in colour and small, making them a difficult target for other creatures that might hunt them. They use modified back legs, with wide oar-like shapes to both propel themselves and make rapid turns. But most distinctive of all their features, is their large translucent tail, which stands like a crest behind them.

From my observations, these tails seem to be a form of propulsion for the sailshells, but until I can inspect a fragment of one in more detail this cannot be confirmed.

**Behaviour**

﻿After finding a segment from a sailshell's tail, it seems obvious that theses creatures use their tails for propulsion.

But rather than flapping them like a flipper, the sailshells use their tails to catch currents and allow the flow of water propel them through the deep ocean. Their tails, and the rest of their shells, are incredibly light, which means that even a mild flow is enough to grant them significant speed. This may also be why they follow the same paths; their propulsion is best suited to using currents where they can find them, rather than choosing their own route.

But why travel back and forth through dangerous veil territory over and over? Perhaps a look at a full sailshell, even a larval one, could help us understand this.

**Theories**

﻿After analysing a clutch of beaded sailshell eggs, and inspecting their anatomy, I've started to understand their behaviour.

Larval sailshells are already forming modified limbs with thin, thread-like whisks on them. These limbs move so fast when the sailshell is swimming that they can't be seen, but in the dormant eggs they are clearly visible. These whisks would allow the sailshells to feed by catching small larval creatures as well as any other particles of nutrients found in the water.

This must be what the sailshells are doing when they follow their carefully selected paths back and forth through the water. It is also likely that the veils attract, trap and produce tiny particles that the sailshells feed on, hence their close proximity. The result for sailshells is a very risky feeding pattern!

### Brine Strider

Tall, crab-like creatures living in the Brine Pools. They use remains of other creatures found within the Brine Pools to adorn their shells, which gives them a blue bioluminescent glow. This light is used by the Striders to communicate with each other despite long distances.

**Observations**

﻿Brine striders are towering crablike creatures which live among the brine pools. Their tall, reedlike legs keep their carapace from the toxic waters that claim most other creatures.

The bones and shells of creatures that die to the brine pools adorn the striders' carapaces, pulled from the brine by a pair of extended claws. Among these rocky piles, smears of bioluminescence glow blue. This pulsing life, whatever it is, finds shelter in the remains the striders collect, but why do the striders make these creatures a home in the first place?

I am also curious how, if the striders are vulnerable to the brine, do adolescents reach the heights required to survive? In order to understand more about these obscure creatures perhaps we need to analyse the glowing, brine-clogged remains they gather.

**Behaviour**﻿

Analysis of a brine-clogged shell reveals a complex chain of chemical reactions. Among this chemical richness a form of extremophile bacteria feeds on the brine's chemical traces.

When the striders collect these remains they also collect the bacterial colonies that live on them. Removed from the brine, but still feeding on the chemical saturated shells and bones, these bacterial colonies produce a bright glow, a side-effect of their metabolism. Do the striders know that they are turning themselves into pale beacons?

What is the nature of the relationship between these bacteria and the striders? I need to understand more about the life cycle of a strider, and how they grow to such heights.

**Theories**﻿

Analysis of a juvenile strider's carapace paints an enigmatic, but beautiful picture: the adornments of shell and bone only begin as the brine strider matures, each arrangement being the life's work of that individual.

Though the Striders often live apart from each other, it seems that they still communicate. Their adornments, which grow taller and brighter, act as beacons. They can signal for food, signal to mate; they keep company from afar.

Gathering the remains and their glowing bacterial colonies is a ritualistic process, a way for each of these large and ponderous creatures to create an identity within this ecosystem, through a living, growing work of biological sculpture.

## Branchimorph (Gill Fans)

Bloomfan - *Vannus Fellis*Coldfire Fan - *Vannus Febris*
### Bloomfan

Animals which resemble a leaf sticking out of the ground, living in The Bloom. The exposed part of its body uses The Bloom's microbes to produce oxygen, while its lower parts, hidden under the sand, scrape the ground for minerals. Those nutrients, combined with the oxygen gained through its fan, are enough to sustain a Bloomfan for a long time. Bloomfans are useful to the player, as they create a small area safe from The Bloom's debuff.

**Observations﻿**

Bloomfans are delicate and pale fan-shaped creatures that filter the toxic microbes of The Bloom.

As tall as a human and with a wide span of pale spines that form a feather-like shape, they are instantly recognisable in the green, clouded water of The Bloom. Anchoring themselves into the sand with a central stem, the bloomfan's filtration leads to a small patch of oxygenated water on the leeward side of the fan. Bloomfans seem to be sensitive to currents, adjusting their angle for better catchment of microbial growth, and also can often be seen 'shivering' in order to free their delicate filaments of bloom growth.

How they contend with the high toxicity and deoxygenated waters of the Bloom is unclear, but perhaps analysis of the dust that coats their spines may offer some clues.

**Behaviour﻿**

A close analysis of the fan dust shows that the fans catalyse The Bloom's microbes into massively increasing their oxygen production, to the point that the cells themselves are torn apart by the oxygen that bubbles out from within them.

This is why Bloomfans can be heard to be 'fizzing' when in close proximity, and suggests that oxygen is the primary nutrient that the fans acquire from filtering. Interestingly, this analysis suggests that The Bloom's microbes are oxygen-producing by nature, and may be a form of algae. It is only their sheer density, blocking their access to sunlight, which means they no longer produce oxygen but instead choke and poison the ocean. Meanwhile, it seems unlikely that the fans live on oxygen alone; what other nutrient sources might bloomfans use to support themselves?

**Theories﻿**

Study of a piece of bloomfan 'stem' reveals that below the sand, a bloomfan has four jointed legs and a head with a circular mouth.

Using these, the bloomfan scrapes through rock and sand in order to extract minerals and biological compounds. Bloomfans may feed on the roots or even the buried eggs of other bloom species. This source of nutrients, when supplemented by the oxygen gathered through its tail-fan (which is in fact more of an external lung), is enough to sustain a bloomfan for a long period, especially due to its mostly static lifestyle.

What this also suggests is that there may be a larger subterranean ecosystem which remains undiscovered beneath The Bloom. Is this where life has retreated to in these toxic conditions?

### Coldfire Fan

Tall, fan-shaped creatures living in The Anomaly area. They nurture life around them thanks to their flame-like pulsing light. Thanks to their mucus sheath, the fan's spine is protected from all bigger particles attracted by its light, while the smaller ones - which the Coldfire Fan feeds on - are let through. Additionally, this animal is not only capable of producing, but also perceiving light, making its bioluminescence not only a feeding tactic, but also a way to communicate with each other, or different species.

**Observations**﻿

These tall fan-shaped filter-feeders can be found in the deep ocean of Gliese 667Cc, where they glow with a distinctive warm bioluminescence.

The centrepieces of the deep ocean's oases of life, coldfire fans and their flame-like pulsing light, attract many other creatures to live around them. How this benefits the fan isn't precisely clear, but there are many possibilities, including defense and sustenance. Although the fans themselves do not lack in defenses, as unlike the smaller and paler fans which can be found in The Bloom, coldfire fans have a shedable mucus sheath which stops them becoming overgrown with other plants and creatures.

Sampling and analysing these sheaths might give some further insight into the role they play in the fan's eating habits.

**Behaviour**﻿

Getting hold of a coldfire fan's sheath has brought many other samples with it.

The sheath itself was covered in pollen, microbiological colonies, even fecal matter. It seems that the sheath acts as a barrier for large particles, blocking them from reaching the fan's spines, while smaller particles pass through and are digested by the fan. The fan's light is then a beacon, specifically intended to bring creatures into its glow, benefitting the fan with the resulting increase in particles in the local area. The sheath stops this from becoming overwhelming for the fan, and can be shed in order to protect it.

The patterns of the fan's light remain mysterious though, why does each individual display different pulses and waves at different times?

**Theories**﻿

Analysis of the coldfire fan spine we acquired shows that fans not only possess light producing cells but also light receptors too.

These incredibly sensitive cells are found on the front of the fan, and show the fans are able to perceive the lights of other creatures, including other fans. As each fan tends to its own oasis, perhaps the fans use their lights as territorial markers, signalling to other fans that their basalt column is taken. They may even use them to communicate with other species, responding to the flashing patterns of veils for example, and letting them know not to approach their territory.

Like lighthouses, coldfire fans seem to act as both safe havens and warning signals depending on the creature they are signalling.

## Colatata (Distributed Bodies)

Snare Veil - *Velum Laques*Waterbulb - *Bulbus Aquaticus*
### Snare Veil

Glowing creatures of The Anomaly area, resembling a thin sheet of silk. They live in large tangles, creating intricate mazes out of their own bodies, all in order to cause other creatures to get caught in their sheets. Once a creature touches the Snare Veil's body, the Veil sends out an electrical charge which forces its prey to swim deeper into the tangle, immobilising them and then digesting its body. Those electrical charges are highly nuanced, and could also be used for communication or detection of prey.

**Observations**﻿

Snare veils are unique, soft-bodied creatures that resemble a thin sheet of silk, studded with lights.

Found in 'tangles' of multiple individuals, their hypnotic swaying and flickering lights make them difficult to see in their entirety, but from my initial observations they appear to be flat panels of bioluminescent cells which are faintly veined with both a nervous and a digestive system. Veils survive by capturing creatures which swim onto their surface, somehow stunning or killing them and then digesting them on the exterior of their bodies.

I have also observed veils passing prey from one individual to another, suggesting that they have some form of social interaction between individuals. Analysis of the digested remains they leave behind might give some clues as to their predatory behaviour.

**Behaviour**﻿

Analysis of unknown remains found nearby a veil tangle shows that this creature captures and kills its prey through an electrical charge.

This charge, presumably produced by electric organs that sit beneath the veil's outer membrane, can produce incredibly high voltage outputs, and the remains analysed showed significant damage from these electrical discharges. The remains also suggest that the veils use electrical pulses to control the muscles and nervous systems of captured creatures, forcing them to swim deeper into the grip of the veil when captured. The veil's manipulation of electrical signals seems highly nuanced, and they may also use them for the detection of prey, and even communication between individuals.

In order to confirm these theories, analysis of veil tissue is necessary, although this may prove difficult.

**Theories**﻿

Having sampled a dying veil, analysis of the tissue demonstrates what a unique creature a snare veil is.

Its tissue is threaded through with powerful neural connections, lined with a digestive surface like the interior of an animal intestine, and coated with a layer of light-emitting cells. It is as if a single creature had been turned inside out and rolled-out until it was a flat plane, millimetres thick. A snare veil is a totally distributed form of life, with no centralised brain, stomach or other organs at all. It is selfsame in its entirety, any other piece resembles another!

What we saw as a 'dying' veil might have been purposefully separating itself, as each piece of a veil could grow another tangle. No wonder they have dominated portions of the seafloor.

### Waterbulb

Soft creatures of The Anomaly area, shaped like a hollow egg living a mostly passive life of filtering water. All of their structure seems to be created around the need to shine light onto its "eye", which lays within its hollow part. This eye has incredible vision, with around 36 different photoreceptor types.

**Observations**﻿

Waterbulbs are pale, soft, egg-shaped creatures with transparent sections in their outer membrane.

Waterbulbs filter water through their interiors, which are hollow apart from a single gelatinous sphere which sits at their centre. Their anatomy is so unique that it is difficult to understand exactly what these incredibly passive creatures are doing. They seem to have small, stump-like legs at their base, for stability, but it is unclear if they can use them to move. Waterbulbs seem to simply sit and filter water, while bathing in the pale light at the edge of the fan oases.

Perhaps we could understand more by analysing the petal pollen and other particles they seem to absorb when filtering the oases' water.

**Behaviour**﻿

The analysis of petal pollen, which reveals them to be water bubbles with a skin of waste matter, fails to add much more to our understanding of the waterbulb.

It's clear that they gain nutrients, and perhaps some of the oxygen housed in their interior, from their consumption of the 'pollen' but unlike the glowing fans they don't seem to be reliant on it. Instead they display a surprising level of passivity while absorbing and filtering much of their local environment. They seem to be without predators or prey, and are ignored by many other lifeforms.

I have noticed that some specimens have 'buds' small growths which suggest they are growing clones of themselves to reproduce. Perhaps by carefully sampling one of these buds we might get a miniature picture of the waterbulb's anatomy.

**Theories**﻿

Analysing a waterbulb 'bud' has provided an important insight into their anatomy.

The bulbs themselves are mostly hollow, with only a thin membrane, filled with pores, separating them and the water around. The interior side of this membrane is iridescent, lined with hexagonal crystals of guanine, producing an effect like the eye-shine seen in terrestrial cats, sharks and other creatures, but on a much larger scale. These crystals reflect light onto the sphere at the centre of the bulb, which is in fact a huge and impossibly complex compound eye.

This eye can see an broad spectrum of light, including UV and IR, with at least 36 different photoreceptor types. What are these waterbulbs observing, and why when they are so passive? Just the thought of their total vision makes me nervous in their presence.

## Pluricolonia (Colonial Systems)

Deep Orrey - *Cenventus Bathosphaera*Ratis Colony - *Conventus Ratis*
### Deep Orrey

Complex masses of polyps which resemble the appearance of jellyfish clusters, populating The Anomaly area. They hunt within Snare Veil labyrinths, and may have a symbiotic relationship with those animals, as they dont seem to be affected by Snare Veils, traversing their grounds easily. They are not a cluster of one species, but a colony of different ones.

**Observations**﻿

Orreries are complex masses of polyps, tentacles and other structures that form a web-like structure that swims as one.

Unlike a terrestrial jellyfish, Orreries appear to be asymmetrical with marked differences even between individuals. Many of their 'orbiting' sections are thin, blade like membranes, but structures that resemble strings of translucent pearls, thread-like tentacles and bulbous polyps also make up a large part of their bodies. Each orrery has a central mass, which is protected by a series of cloud- like soft membranes, twisted around each other like a rose.

Close encounters with orreries have shown them to be dangerous hunters, capable of tangling up and shocking their prey into submission. They also deploy shocks as a defensive measure when faced with larger creatures. Like me. Perhaps further study of their prey may help.

**Behaviour**﻿

Having analysed some tissue from the orreries' agile prey, we can begin to understand their behaviour.

Unable to match other creatures for speed, orreries seem to rely on the dangers presented by deep sea veils, beside which they are often found. Veils funnel cautious creatures into the orreries' nets, while the orreries themselves don't seem to be affected by the veils and are able to traverse them easily. Perhaps the two have a symbiotic relationship, hunting together in a mutually beneficial manner? Outside of this orreries appear to be mostly lone hunters, and I have seen no social interactions between individuals.

But what exactly is an orrery? I would like to understand more about their strange uneven forms. Perhaps a polyp that had been shed might provide details on their anatomy.

**Theories**﻿

Analysis of an orrery polyp has demonstrated that they are indeed colonial creatures.

They appear to be made up of both specialised animals of the same species, and different creatures of different species! Based on this the orreries may need to be reclassified, although that would require extensive study and equipment I don't have access to.

What I can say about the orreries is that each one seems to have specialised its own growth based on its requirements. Many of the zooids that are part of the colony are able to shift between medusoid, dactylozooid, tentaculozooids and gastrozooid forms with incredible speed, depending on whether the colony needs to focus on propulsion, feeding, defense or digestion. This makes each orrery a complex social and biological structure, like a floating city, rather than lone hunter.

### Ratis Colony

Huge colonial organism clinging to the remains of the Baikal lab in the East Reef. It envelops the entire facility, slowly feeding on it. The lab where it presumably was once held is now its food, which allowed it to grow to such a vast size.

**Observations**﻿

The ratis colony is a huge colonial organism, made of layers of zooids all occupying different roles within its large and complex body.

Closer to a living island or iceberg than a creature, ratis is a free- floating structure which travels across the surface of Gliese 667Cc's planet-spanning ocean. Trying to observe the patterns of ratis is a difficult task, I have counted tens of different zooid types, flowing in constant movement throughout its cavernous interior. We can assume that they occupy the typical roles of a colonial organism; motility, defense, digestion and reproduction, but in a colony so vast many other processes may be happening. Does ratis have any neural activity? And why does it cling to the remains of the Baikal lab?

Sampling some of the different zooid types may help us understand more about this colony.

**Behaviour**﻿

Sampling the colony's gas bladders has helped us to analyse how ratis stays afloat.

It seems that thousands of these bladders, of different sizes, both keep ratis at the surface and hold the fragments of the laboratory in place. These bladders, with their high oxygen content, can be inflated or deflated individually to respond to currents and move ratis across the ocean. This suggests that ratis has some way of orchestrating massive changes across its huge volume. In a sense perhaps ratis is better thought of as an individual with various specialised organs rather than a colony, and yet it shows no signs of a central intelligence.

If I was to discover neural activity within ratis could I even understand it? This creature is so alien to our way of understanding the world.

**Theories**﻿

Analysing ratis' tentacles has shown they possess an ability to secrete metal-digesting substances.

The conclusion is that these tentacles are consuming the lab piece by piece, using it to fuel the colony's incredible growth. Perhaps ratis was once a tiny creature, floating in a biologist's tank. When the facility was breached ratis was gifted a near inexhaustible amount of metal to consume allowing it to grow to its vast size. One day it will eat away the entire structure, its body carrying the shadow of this planet's first human settlement.

Sometimes I wish that our marks on Earth could be erased so easily. But the only shadows in our oceans are those of thousands of extinct species we will never regain.

## Saetaphora (Bristle Carriers)

Brine Eaters - *Plumosus Muriavorous*Gardener - *Plumosus Topiarius*
### Brine Eaters

Creatures of the Brine Pool, which resembles overgrown ferns. Their bristles are covered in bright orange bacteria, which in contact with the brine massively increases their reproduction. Once there is enough bacteria on its bristles, the Brine Eater wipes it across another frond, quickly digesting it, yet leaving just enough for the next feeding.

**Observations**﻿

Brine eaters are hairy, frond-like creatures that live in clumps around Gliese 667Cc's deep ocean brine pools.

Looking like large, dark, overgrown ferns, they sway their branching limbs through the pools, whisking the cloudy brine as they do. Each frond is thick with bristles which are often caked in a bright orange substance that reacts to the brine on contact, brightening as it does. What exactly this substance is, or does, is difficult to tell, but it seems that the eaters intentionally foster its growth on their limbs, using their matted hair to keep it attached. Individual eaters can be hard to isolate from the clumps they live in, making additional observations difficult.

Understanding more about these creatures will require us to gather some samples.

**Behaviour**﻿

Analysing samples of the bacteria which grows among the hairs of the brine eaters' fronds has shown that it is their main source of nutrition.

This bacteria, which is extremophile in nature, is able to metabolise the toxic brine the eater dips it into. The eater repeatedly dips the bacteria into the brine in order to regulate its growth, with each 'dip' causing a rapid increase in reproduction within the bacterial colony. When the eater's limb is thick with orange microbes, it then wipes it across another frond, where much of the bacteria is quickly digested by the creature, leaving just enough behind on the limb to regrow the colony.

It seems the name brine eater is a misnomer-it is the bacteria which eats the brine, and eaters just consume the bacteria!

**Theories**﻿

Inspecting the tissue of a brine eater shows that despite a full nervous system, they have no central brain.

In fact, regeneration present in the tissue sample suggests that a brine eater could be regrown from just a single piece of an individual, and is highly resistant to predatory damage. With no central 'self' to orient themselves around, brine eaters are a highly resilient form of life, which is perhaps how they have come to exist in one of the harshest environments of Gliese 667Cc, the shore of a brine lake.

They are so resilient, in fact, that I would expect that brine eaters and their variants might be found all across this ocean, each one grown from the smallest fragment of one original individual deep in the past of this planet.

### Gardener

Slow and feathery creatures with many fern-like arms living in the Pillar Gardens of the East Reef. Their feathers are actually sharp, and they use them to prune the petal gardens and feed on them. They slowly travel from pillar to pillar pollinating the gardens. The Gardeners probably have some method of communication to ensure that no garden is overgrown or wilted.

**Observations**﻿

Gardeners are feathery, slow-moving creatures that live among the Pillar Garden flora.

Their upper part is mainly composed of densely packed, fern-like arms. Underneath is a body resting on a dense profusion of short, root-like legs that anchor the gardener but also enable it to walk-albeit very slowly. As gardeners move they also rhythmically wave their arms, though it is unclear if this is for balance, or is part of their 'pruning' action within the petal gardens they inhabit.

Gardeners don't do anything fast, but they do travel between pillars using the silken tendrils that grow between them. More analysis is needed to discern why, and what their relationship to these gardens really is.

**Behaviour**﻿

Analysis of a gardener's feather, which I have called a pinnule, has revealed the gardeners feed on the same thing they camouflage themselves as; the garden's petals.

The gardener 'feather' pinnules have a razor like edge, with which the gardener cuts away thin sections of petal to feed on, without damaging the plant. However, unlike an actual feather, they contain nerves, suggesting the gardener can deliberately control them, for precise pruning and for maneuvering in the water if they become dislodged from a tendril bridge.

Quite why they risk such journeys, given their ineffective swimming, remains to be seen. Further study may unlock the puzzle of their purpose within the biome.

**Theories**﻿

Analysis of a gardener's arm, filled with pinnules, has shed some light on the relationship between them and the pillar gardens.

The debris coating the sample is actually pollen from various garden species, suggesting that gardeners are an important part of the cross-pollination process! This means their contribution to the ecosystem is not just limited to pruning the blooms; they help propagate them too.

Indeed, given their roaming paths from pillar to pillar, they must have some way of communicating and ensuring that no one garden becomes wilted or overgrown. This could be a eusocial hive structure or a territorial signature they leave behind. Either way, they're a well coordinated team of marine landscape gardeners!

### Pillar Worm

Long and quick segmented creatures living within the tunnels and recesses of the pillars found in the East Reef. They lead a burrowing lifestyle, creating different tunnels within the area. They seem to be using their bright tail as a way to lure other organisms into its tunnels, before puncing from the burrow and catching their prey.

**Observations**﻿

Pillar worms are long, thin, segmented creatures, that live deep in the dark tunnels and recesses of the rock pillars found in the East Reef.

They're frustratingly difficult to observe properly, due both to their shyness, and their surprisingly rapid swimming speed. They can however be startled out of their burrows by consistent tapping on the rock. Once glimpsed, it's evident they have striations that taper to a bright, 'lure' like tail. Their front half is protected with overlapping, rigid plates.

They also seem to burrowing, or excavating creatures; ejecting dust and sediment periodically from their burrows. Further analysis is required to determine why they live so reclusively within the pillars.

**Behaviour**﻿

Analysis of a pillar worm's chitinous plate shows a creature heavily adapted to its burrowing lifestyle.

It seems that the chitinous plates, found around the organism's head are precisely grooved, allowing the worm to chip away at existing recesses to create tunnels, and funnelling the sediment back towards the entrance. These grooves should also help protect the creature's head from abrasions while traversing the burrows.

It's logical then that these bugs create the tunnels that other life, especially the silken tendrils and the petal gardens, require. They must be one of the foundations of this unique ecosystem, turning the hard rock pillars into vertical gardens through their obsessive burrowing.

**Theories**﻿

Dissection of a pillar worm's tail has shed light on their hunting and feeding behaviours.

The tail itself is made from many panels of bright translucent chitin. Given the tail's brightness, and the way it waves in a current, it's reasonable to conclude that the worm is using it as a lure. It could be an effective tool for the worm to attract small grazers to a tunnel's mouth with, before pouncing from the burrow and pulling its prey into the hole with it.

However the tail might serve another function too, as a countermeasure against predators. Was this specimen bitten off, or willingly ejected? Either way, the pillar worm remains good at hiding its secrets within those dark burrows.