Medusodera

## Medusodera pennicoronus

Latest Mutations: Holdfast, Theca, Pinnules

This species appears a bit like a crinoid. It has a crown of arms covered in feather-like pinnules which are lined with tube feet, which makes it a good filter-feeder. A hard theca protects the head and the body has an endoskeleton of ossicles.  It retains the swimming adaptations like the jellyfish-bell below the theca and the lines of cilia on membranes along the body. This is despite having a root-like holdfast, which it can use to attach itself to sediment. It lives throughout the upper 500m of the northern hemisphere temperate Uteenessa ocean.

Status: Unlisted

Habitat: Subpolar Temperate Ocean, Polar Temperate Ocean

Niche: Benthic Filter-Feeder

Diet: Any fresh meat it can get.

Size: 2.5cm (from cirri to end)

Nutritional Need: 148 x 2.5/100 = 3.7NP

Food / Oxygen Requirement: 3.7 x 0.25 = 0.9NP per round (Needs to intake 0.7/0.6 = 1.5NP per round)/ 3.7 x 0.75 = 2.8NP

Abilities: Anti-Freeze. Exothermic. Liquid Excretion. Low Pressure Tolerance. Osmoconformer (Quite High Salinity). Permeable Skin. Small-Body Circulation. Solid Digestion. Subzero Metabolism.

Perception: Chemoreception 2 (detects chemicals 5m from mouth). Sight 1 (see blurrily on ventral side, monocular vision). Light Sensing (dorsal side).

Stats: Buoyancy 1 (Adjustable Buoyancy). Coordination 2. Digestion 1 (100% Meat, Digests 60%). Filtration 2.5. Immunity 2. Respiration 3.5 (Stationary Respiration, Cutaneous Respiration, Ram Ventilation, 25% off). Sharpness 1. Stamina 4. Strength 1. Support 1. Swim Speed 1.5. Swim Stability 2. Toughness 3. Viscosity 1. UV Resistance 1. Walk Speed 1.5.

Intelligence / Behaviour: 1. Hungry > Wait for food. 2. Food > Filter with arms and tube feet. 3. Tired > Rest. 4. Pain > Swim away. 5. Maturity > Reproduce.

External Features: The cylindrical body with a jelly-filled dome has yellow skin. There is an endoskeleton of ossicles and they are arranged in plates in a up around the front called a theca. At the front are arms lined with feather-like pinnules lined with tube feet, followed by the circular mouth and chemoreceptors. It has teeth in it's mouth. There are six pairs of gill slits. Along the body are four membranes with lines of cilia on them. On the ventral side of the body is a pinhole eye. At the bottom is a root-like holdfast.

Internal Features: Each cell contains lysozymes and piezolytes. A water vascular system carries water from the tube feet to the main canals that radiate from the central canal around the mouth, and also from the madroporite. The body has a hemacoel and a few small blood vessels from the gills. The blood is violet because it contains hemerythrin. Anti-freeze threitol sugar alcohol flows around the body. It has a gonads. It has muscles across the body. It has a monogastric digestive system. From the ganglia in head is a single, ventral nerve cord with nerves running off with a nearby notochord.

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

Castes/Phases: Hermaphroditism.

Locomotion: Slightly Active (10NP). Paddles with cilia.

External Features: Light Pigmentation (2NP, +1 UV Resistance). Jelly-Filled Dome (3NP, +1 Buoyancy, +Adjustable Buoyancy, +Suspension). Membranes (2NP, +2 Swim Stability). Cilia (2NP, +1 Swim Speed, +Ciliated Paddling). Skin (3NP, +1 Immunity, +1 Respiration, +1 Stamina, +Stationary Respiration, +Cutaneous Respiration, +Permeable Skin). Cirri (7NP, +1 Filtration). Mouth (0NP, +1 Filtration). Teeth (4NP, +1 Sharpness, -0.5 Filtration). Chemoreceptors (2NP, +2 Chemoreception). Pinhole Eye (2NP, +1 Sight, +Monocular Vision). Ossicles (10NP, +3 Toughness). Tube Feet (5NP, +1 Walk Speed, +1 Filtration, +1 Viscosity, +0.5 Respiration). Pinnules (2NP, +1 Filtration). Holdfast (2NP, +1 Viscosity).

Internal Features: Piezolytes (5NP, +Low Pressure Tolerance). Lysozymes (1NP, +Subzero Metabolism). Gills (4NP, +1 Respiration, +1 Stamina, +Ram Ventilation, +Only Works Underwater). Water Vascular System (4NP, +1 Respiration, +1 Stamina, +Liquid Excretion, +Solid Excretion). Open Circulatory System (3NP, +Small-Body Circulation, +1 Stamina). Anti-Freeze Compound (2NP, +Anti-Freeze). 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 Fertilisation).

Temporal Range: R. 228 - Present (Atrobocean Stage of the Oliverian)

Distribution: Northern Hemisphere

Lifespan: 2 years

Predecessor: Loboblastus setocrestus

Classification:

Discoverer: StealthStyle