Brachodes

## Brachodes repodigitus

Latest Mutations: Larvae, Longer Cirri, Walking Cirri

This was a very primitive yellow, freshwater bivalve that lived only in the intermittent waters of Aeaea. It had no natural predators and filtered passing particles of food with it's tentacles to feed. It had a shell-less larvae. It also had longer cirri and a thicker pair that were used to drag itself across the floor.

Status: Extinct (Samadaran GRB)

Habitat: Freshwater in Subtropical Winter Semi-Arid Barrens, Subtropical Arid Barrens

Niche: Sessile Filter-Feeder

Diet: Any particle of marine snow meat or organism 0.5mm big or smaller.

Size: 2.3cm (length - shell front to back)

Nutritional Need: 147 x 2.3/100 = 3.4NP.

Food / Oxygen Requirement: 3.4 x 0.25 = 0.9NP per round (Needs to intake 0.9/0.6 = 1.5NP per round)/ 3.4 x 0.9 = 3.1NP

Abilities: Adjustable Buoyancy. Anti-Freeze. Exothermic. Inflexible. Liquid Excretion. Osmoregulation (Freshwater Salinity). Permeable Skin. Small-Body Circulation. Solid Excretion. Subzero Metabolism.

Perception: Chemoreception 1 (detects chemicals 1m from mouth). Sight 1 (blurry sight in one direction, Monocular Vision). Light Sensing (other side).

Stats: Buoyancy 0. Clam Strength 1. Coordination 2. Desiccation Resistance 1. Digestion 1 (100% Meat, Digests 60%). Filtration 3.5. Immunity 2.  Respiration 2 (10% off, Cutaneous Respiration, Stationary Respiration). Stamina 3. Strength 1. Support 2. Swim Agility -1. Swim Speed 0.5. Swim Stability 2. Toughness 3. UV Resistance 2. Walk Speed 0.

Intelligence / Behaviour: 1. Hungry > Wait for food. 2. Food > Stick cirri out of shell and filter. 3. Tired > Rest. 4. Pain > Close shell. 5. Maturity > Release gametes.

External Features: The yellow irridiphore-pigmented and cylindrical body is contained within an aragonite, horizontal, symmetrical bivalve shell secreted by the mantle. Around the mouth are long, ciliated cirri and a circle of chemoreceptors, with a jelly-filled lobe fringing the head. Four ciliated membranes of skin run down the body as do six pairs of gill slits. On one side of the body is an eyespot and on the other a pinhole eye.

Internal Features: Each cell in the body contains lysozymes and a small number of piezolytes. A system of muscles stretches across the body. Near the lower wall can be found the gonads as well as the large saccate metanephridium. Through the mostly lower half runs the monogastric digestive system, from the mouth through the tubes to the stomach and intestines. Ganglia in the head connect to a single nerve cord along the ventral half, which has many nerves branching off it to encompass the whole body. Next to this is a notochord. In the middle of the body is a hemacoel with violet (hemerythrin) blood through which an anti-freeze (thrietol sugar alcohol) flows.

Reproduction: Sexual Reproduction. External Fertilisation. 1,000 eggs per spawning.

Castes/Phases: Larval Phase until 10% developed: Larval C: has no bivalve shell. (+6NP, -3 Toughness, -1 Clam Strength, -1 Desiccation Resistance, -1 Support, +1 Buoyancy, +1 Swim Speed, +1 Swim Agility, +1 Walk Speed. Hungry > Search for food. Pain > Row away. Active).

Locomotion: Slightly Active (10NP).

External Features: Skin (3NP, +1 Immunity, +1 Respiration, +1 Stamina, +Stationary Respiration, +Cutaneous Respiration, +Permeable Skin). Medium Pigmentation (2NP, +2 UV Resistance). Cylindrical (0NP). Bivalve Shell (14NP, +3 Toughness, +1 Clam Strength, +1 Desiccation Resistance, +1 Support, -1 Buoyancy, -1 Swim Speed, -1 Swim Agility, -1 Walk Speed, , +Inflexible, -Wriggling). Long, Ciliated Cirri w/ walking cirri (7NP, +2.5 Filtration, +0.5 Walk Speed). Mouth (0NP, +1 Filtration). Chemoreceptors (2NP, +1 Chemoreception).  Jelly-Filled Lobe (3NP, +1 Buoyancy, +Adjustable Buoyancy, +Suspension). Membranes (2NP, +2 Swim Stability). Cilia (2NP, +1 Swim Speed, +Ciliated Paddling). Eyespot (3NP, +Light Sensing). Pinhole Eye (2NP, +1 Sight, +Monocular Vision).

Internal Features: Piezolytes (5NP, +Low Pressure Tolerance). Lysozymes (1NP, +Subzero Metabolism). Gills (4NP, +1 Respiration, +1 Stamina, +Ram Ventilation, +Only Works Underwater). Open Circulatory System (3NP, +Small-Body Circulation, +1 Stamina). Anti-Freeze Compound (2NP, +Anti-Freeze). Large Nephridium (19NP, +Liquid Excretion, +Osmoregulation). Muscular System (7NP, +1 Strength, +0.5 Walk Speed, +0.5 Swim Speed, +Wriggling). Monogastric Digestive System (18NP, +1 Meat Digestion, +1 Veg Protein Digestion, +1 Immunity, +Solid Excretion). Centralised Nervous System (20NP, +2 Coordination, +Stimulus Response, +Subconscious Functions, +Body Movement Control). Notochord (4NP, +1 Support). Gonads (14NP, +Sexual Reproduction, +Hermaphroditism, +External Fertilzation).

Temporal Range: R. 239 - R.244 (Atrobocean to Samadaran Stage of the Oliverian)

Distribution: Aeaea

Lifespan: 1 year

Predecessor: Cilistoma primus

Classification: Cilistominae (sf), Cilistomidae (f)

Discoverer: StealthStyle