Viofotavgessoma bathalassus

***Viofotavgessoma bathalassus*** (named after Latin "bathy," meaning "deep" and "thalassus," meaning "sea") is a species under the family Arpaktikoaltidae and was the first species under *Viofotavgessoma* to take to a more deep-sea niche. It was one of two species to evolve from *Viofotavgessoma neomar*, the other being *Viofotavgessoma vesperus*, which remained more in the open ocean. *V. bathalassus* also lived in further Eastern waters, whereas *V. vesperus* lived in the West. The species first evolved about 325 million years ago, or about 1 million years after *V. neomar*. Because of its tendency to live in deeper waters, it can often be easily distinguished by a general lack of color but having extravagant patterns resembling a night sky on its back, from which it releases light. As this species had much less need to use intense light attraction, especially when compared to other species such as *V. vesperus* or the descendants of *Viofotavgessoma bingusi*, it was only able to emit light from its backside, rather than utilizing other parts of its body, as was neccesary in some of these other species.

## Anatomy

Anatomically, *V. bathalassus* was considerably unique when compared to others of its genus, as its strikingly new habitat required varying adaptations, especially internally. It needed to combat the intense water pressure of its environment, and thus was significantly smaller in size than other members of *Viofotavgessoma*. Its internal water pressure was equal to that of external water to keep it from collapsing in on itself, and it had somewhat specialized organs to fit its new habitat. Externally, it was covered in beautiful patterns, and it did have a considerably larger head and eyes to improve vision. While their bioluminescence was primarily used to attract prey, it was also used to benefit their own vision when necessary.

Members of *V. bathalassus* typically grew to about 0.8 feet (0.24 meters) in length, and when first hatching from their eggs, could be as small as 0.01 feet (0.003 meters) in length.

## Habitat

Members of this species lived roughly 4000 feet (1219 meters) below sea level, causing minimal light to be allowed in their habitat. Because of this, a number of drastic adaptations had to occur within this species, and it was able to diverge in to hundreds of other species and genera, some of which live today. Geographically, it lived in Eastern Primoceanum, contrasting to *V. vesperus*, which took further west and even into Secundoceanum.

## Evolution

This species evolved about 323 years ago from *V. neomar*, about 3 million years after the latter's evolution. It was the first post-extinction deep-sea animal to exhibit bioluminescence, and thus was very successful at first in its environment, given the lack of light. Because of this, it also evolved into several other species and genera, first evolving into a number of species under the *Viofotavgessoma* genus but later diverging into the *Bathalassus* genus, the namesake being *Bathalassus bathalassus*, one of the first to evolve under this genus. It can be grouped into a subfamily to distinguish these bioluminescent genera from others of Arpaktikoaltidae. The trait of bioluminescence in the deep sea was kept in several lineages, including separate convergent lineages from this one, though this one was still one of the most successful and still remains in some species today.

## Taxonomy

Domain: Exogiinosefkaryotis

Kingdom: Animalisaliena

Subkingdom: Enmetazoae

Phylum: Xenochordata

Subphylum: Psariaskoulikion

Megaclass: Epithymia

Superclass: Skoulikionpsaria

Class: Ostikiepithymia

Subclass: Efchimelovo

Order: Psithyrismenoprosopoiformes

Suborder: Programmataanichnefsiskatooidei

Clade: Idiotamcaptionemviventem

Subclade: Ourapterygio

Section: Mobileidiotamcaptionem

Clade: Arpaktikoaltisidae

Family: Arpaktikoaltidae

Tribe: Arpaktikoaltini

Genus: *Viofotavgessoma*

Species: ***Viofotavgessoma bathalassus***