Thalakelphus

## Thalakelphus svrangitensi

Status: VU

Timespan: R.76 - Present

Habitat: Mid Ocean

Distribution: Non-polar Ocean, Below the thermocline, Maximum depth of 800m

Niche: Pelagic Filter-Feeder

Nutritional Value: 56.1

Size: 8.5cm (length)

Predecessor: Zestoskulus erimitus

Classification: Zestoskulusidae, Kardiaskulusidea, Kardiarchia

Latest Mutations: Hyponome = 6, Shell = 5, Hearing = 4

Info: This species looks a bit like a straightened nautilus. It generally floats around the twilight zone of ocean, pulling in marine snow with its tentacles. In the faint light, it often uses hearing to detect incoming predators, and then boosts away with its hyponome. However, such food must be stretched to be sufficient to sustain such a complex animal. Furthermore, it only lives between the bottom of the thermocline, at its highest 250m below sea level - because it's not adapted to surface life - and 8,000m below the surface - because any lower and it's buoyant shell will implode with pressure. In this zone, though, it is quite successful.

Description: It has a smooth, straight shell made of calcium carbonate with several medium-length tentacles sticking out the front. On the face is a couple areas where minuscule cilia which act as mechanoreceptors, picking up underwater noises and inputting this information into the nerve network. On the head that just protrudes from the rest of the shell, two large pinhole eyes with lenses face upwards, while another one faces forwards above the circular, toothless mouth. The skin that is uncovered is layered with heat-proof scales. At the rear, a muscular hyponome drags in water and uses it to propel itself quickly. This tube leads into the siphuncle, which manages water content inside the shell, creating buoyancy. This also delivers water to the gills and gill frills inside the shell. A simple gut, behind the pharynx, leads through the body, which is circulated by a semi-open circulatory system; capillaries cover the muscles, which also have special vacuoles, but the rest of the organs were bathed in a chamber. The circulatory system is pumped by a tubular heart. A tiny brain and two nerve cords control the body. The body has vertebrae made of cartilage.

Previous Mutations: Extra-Efficient Muscles, Open Circulatory System, Tubular Heart, Web of Capillaries Over Muscles, Four Gill Slits, Two Gill Frills, Pharynx, Large Pinhole Eyes With Lenses (2 on top of head, one on front), Heat-Proof Scales, Cartilage Vertebrae, Calcium Carbonate Shell, Heat Resistance, Tentacles

Discoverer: Soundwave

## Thalakelphus asperacuta

Status: NT

Timespan: R.84 - Present

Habitat: Mid Ocean

Distribution: Non-polar Ocean, Below the thermocline, Maximum depth of 800m

Niche: Pelagic Filter-Feeder

Nutritional Value: 58.7

Size: 8.5cm (length)

Predecessor: Thalakelphus svrangitensi

Classification: Zestoskulusidae, Kardiaskulusidea, Kardiarchia

Latest Mutations: Pigmentation = 3, Poison Glands = 6, Lower Metabolic Rate = 4

Info: The deep ocean life of this species means that fast movement is not something that is often needed; other animals are met rarely. It has sacrificed speed so that its body will require less food, by lowering its metabolic rate. Therefore, it is slow, but needs to consume less of the scarce food. If it does get the attention of a predator it can defend itself, as fleeing may no longer work, with bumpy poison glands along the tentacles. The colourless, mucus-like poison can be secreted at will by the animal and cause pain and death in the attacker. However, like its predecessor, it still only lives in the narrow band of ocean between the bottom of the thermocline and 800m below the surface.

Description: It has a smooth, straight shell made of calcium carbonate with several medium-length tentacles sticking out the front covered in poison glands. On the face is a couple areas where minuscule cilia which act as mechanoreceptors, picking up underwater noises and inputting this information into the nerve network. On the head that just protrudes from the rest of the shell, two large pinhole eyes with lenses face upwards, while another one faces forwards above the circular, toothless mouth. The skin that is uncovered is layered with heat-proof scales. At the rear, a muscular hyponome drags in water and uses it to propel itself quickly. This tube leads into the siphuncle, which manages water content inside the shell, creating buoyancy. This also delivers water to the gills and gill frills inside the shell. A simple gut, behind the pharynx, leads through the body, which is circulated by a semi-open circulatory system; capillaries cover the muscles, which also have special vacuoles, but the rest of the organs were bathed in a chamber. The circulatory system is pumped by a tubular heart. A tiny brain and two nerve cords control the body. The body has vertebrae made of cartilage.

Previous Mutations: Extra-Efficient Muscles, Open Circulatory System, Tubular Heart, Web of Capillaries Over Muscles, Axochord, Notochord, Four Gill Slits, Two Gill Frills, Pharynx, Large Pinhole Eyes With Lenses (2 on top of head, one on front), Heat-Proof Scales, Cartilage Vertebrae, Calcium Carbonate Shell, Heat Resistance, Tentacles, Hyponome, Shell, Hearing

Discoverer: Svrangite

## Thalakelphus narefaciemis

Status: NT

Timespan: R.98 - Present

Habitat: Temperate & Tropical Deep Ocean (Below Thermocline, Above 800m)

Distribution: Cosmopolitan

Niche: Pelagic Filter-Feeder

Size: 8.5cm (length)

Predecessor: Thalakelphus asperacuta

Classification: Zestoskulusidae, Kardiaskulusidae, Kardiarchia

Latest Mutations: Nostrils

Info: With a pair of nostrils on the face above the mouth, Thalakelphus narefaciem has a much greater chance of finding some food floating in the great, empty abyss. The nostrils provide olfaction and also help with locating the direction in which the smell comes from. They slowly drift through the deep ocean, filtering passing marine snow, and have no regular predators with their shell and poisonous skin.
Description: It has a smooth, straight shell made of calcium carbonate with several medium-length tentacles sticking out the front covered in poison glands. On the face is a couple areas where minuscule cilia which act as mechanoreceptors, picking up underwater noises and inputting this information into the nerve network and a pair of nostrils linked to sensory pads. On the head that just protrudes from the rest of the shell, two large pinhole eyes with lenses face upwards, while another one faces forwards above the circular, toothless mouth. The skin that is uncovered is layered with heat-proof scales. At the rear, a muscular hyponome drags in water and uses it to propel itself quickly. This tube leads into the siphuncle, which manages water content inside the shell, creating buoyancy. This also delivers water to the gills and gill frills inside the shell. A simple gut, behind the pharynx, leads through the body, which is circulated by a semi-open circulatory system; capillaries cover the muscles, which also have special vacuoles, but the rest of the organs were bathed in a chamber. The circulatory system is pumped by a tubular heart. A tiny brain and two nerve cords control the body. The body has vertebrae made of cartilage.

Previous Mutations: Extra-Efficient Muscles, Open Circulatory System, Tubular Heart, Web of Capillaries Over Muscles, Axochord, Notochord, Four Gill Slits, Two Gill Frills, Pharynx, Large Pinhole Eyes With Lenses (2 on top of head, one on front), Heat-Proof Scales, Cartilage Vertebrae, Calcium Carbonate Shell, Heat Resistance, Tentacles, Hyponome, Shell, Hearing, Pigmentation, Poison Glands, Lower Metabolic Rate

Discoverer: StealthStyle