Brachiostomus

## Brachiostomus walkeri

Temporal Range: R.124 - R.139 (Novaglacian to Gammavian Stage of the Atroxian)

Habitat: Temperate Shallows

Distribution: Northern Hemisphere

Niche: Herbivore

Size: 19cm (length)

Nutritional Worth:

Predecessor: Hemithateus spicati

Classification: Brachiostomusine (sf), Thanostomidae (f), Flagracauda (so), Caudomorphii (c)

Perception: Blurry vision with no depth perception on either side, can use electroreception up to ten metres away.
Latest Mutations: Lose Teeth, Jaw Appendages

Info: This was quite a departure from the norm for most of its family, which had only been herbivores and carnivores before; with its teeth disappearing and bristle-lined appendages reaching from above the mouth, it had become a filter-feeder.

Anatomy: The long, blue, tapering body is supported by a vertebrae of bone, although the whip-tail at the end is composed of flexible cartilage. Along the body are three gill slits and a line of electroreceptors. There are no limbs. The head has a cartilage jaw and two appendages with bristles protruding from the head. On each side of the head is a pinhole eye, with the ability to swivel around. At the end of the tail, six venomous spikes stick out. A gut leads to a stomach containing weak digestive herbivorous bacteria which can only break down small bits of plant matter. The muscles contain special vacuoles for storing extra energy, and are bathed in hemacoel by the open circulatory system.

Behaviour: This species is capable of processing information gathered from sense receptors and using that to form a picture of its surroundings. It can then respond to stimuli. It also has basic reasoning.

Cause of Extinction: Gammavian Extinction

Discoverer: StealthStyle

## Brachiostomus tropicae

Temporal Range: R.134 - R.139 (Untrustolithic to Gammavian Stage of the Atroxian)

Habitat: Tropical Shallows, Tropical Upper Ocean

Distribution: Cosmopolitan

Niche: Herbivore

Size: 19cm (length)

Nutritional Worth:

Predecessor: Brachiostomus walkeri

Classification: Brachiostomusine (sf), Thanostomidae (f), Flagracauda (so), Caudomorphii (c)

Perception: Blurry vision with no depth perception on either side, can use electroreception up to ten metres away.
Latest Mutations: Tropical Tolerance

Info: When conditions are right, tropical seas can provide a consistent bounty of food due to the constant sun, and this Brachiostomus species moved here to take advantage of this fact. But the Gammavian Extinction cut short it's existence to only a brief time.

Anatomy: The long, blue, tapering body is supported by a vertebrae of bone, although the whip-tail at the end is composed of flexible cartilage. Along the body are three gill slits and a line of electroreceptors. There are no limbs. The head has a cartilage jaw and two appendages with bristles protruding from the head. On each side of the head is a pinhole eye, with the ability to swivel around. At the end of the tail, six venomous spikes stick out. A gut leads to a stomach containing weak digestive herbivorous bacteria which can only break down small bits of plant matter. The muscles contain special vacuoles for storing extra energy, and are bathed in hemacoel by the open circulatory system.

Behaviour: This species is capable of processing information gathered from sense receptors and using that to form a picture of its surroundings. It can then respond to stimuli. It also has basic reasoning.

Cause of Extinction: Gammavian Extinction

Discoverer: StealthStyle