As the analogy is beginning to show signs of severe stress, let's have a look at some sketches instead.
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| Click to enlarge; copyright Gert van Dijk |
The Scuttle
A scuttle, or at least that is what I wrote alongside it. It is definitely un unclassifiable life form, without apparent link to extant Furahan Clades. It's certainly not a Fish, and it does not seen to be a hexamere at all. There are four fins, it would seem, although the aft ones differ so much from the front ones that it is doubtful they share the same basic anatomy. Then there are two vertical fins that also de not seem to share structural similarities with the other fins. The head certainly is odd, with six eyes in two rows, and a mouth flanged by two, well, flanges. Their purpose is not immediately obvious, and there do not seem to be recognisable jaws. The animal as a whole seems to be a fairly fast swimmer, but otherwise it is had to tell what it eats or what is does.
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| Click to enlarge; copyright Gert van Dijk |
Caecus panopticus
This one, in contrast, is easily recognisable as a tetrapterate, a four-winged avian of hexamere stock. Having four wings poses interesting problems for an avian on the found or sitting on a branch, as this one is doing. In later avian developments I worked out a different folding pattern, one that differs more from the Earth bird pattern shown here. The later design still allowed the front wings to be folded on the outside of the larger hind wings, though. This particular animal cannot be taken too seriously, with its oversized head and beak. Still, take a look at a marabou or a toucan, and you will find that earth birds have also produced forms that, if not true, would be ridiculous.
That holds for this 'Caecus panopticus' as well. The genus' name was derived from a superficial resemblance of the eyes with dark glasses, seen from the side. The animal is not blind however, as its name suggests, but had quite good eyesight, in common with all Furahan avians.
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| Click to enlarge; copyright Gert van Dijk |
Wow! It's really awesome to see a new post again!
ReplyDeleteI like the scuttle, but I think it need not to be unclassifiable at all. There is easily recognised lateral jaws, one pair of the fins could be lost and the additional eyes could be created either by spliting of the original composite eyes (like in spiders I think) or be a sign of o more ancient branch than other fishes.
ReplyDeleteI was also thinking about the big furahan filter feeders like furahan sharks and this bauplan could have some advantages. The lateral jaws could act like the head fins in mantas, and the rigide trunk could contain two or more pumps, which would expand simply as a result of lower pressure when the other pump shrink. This could create suction to catch food, provide fresh water to gills and create jet movement to help the paddle-like fins. It is like putting the best parts of terrestrial squids, fishes and turtles/penguins together.
The Scuttle seems slightly like a manta ray had a baby with a sea turtle. (the vertical fins - are they actual fins?)
ReplyDelete...though the manta-like "jaws" need not mean it is a filter feeder: maybe it eats little (but not planktonic) fishes, or plucks sea-fruits from the stems.
-rodlox.
That Caecus reminds us all of a toucan, but I've been a-thinking: Caecus wanna cracker?
ReplyDeleteThe scuttle on the other hand vaguely resembles a sea turtle. I wonder what its hatchlings look like (in terms of a possible metamorphosis life cycle)
I hope Gert van Dijk does one creature that can be regarded as legendary, like a unicorn or dragon looking creature, or maybe a vague combination of both.
Petr: thank you (you've been busy lately!)
ReplyDeleteJan: I can see how the scuttle could be forced into a Fish-design, but the amount of pressure needed seems a bit much. Anyway, the flanges of the scuttle were indeed drawn with a manta in mind. It is interesting that you came up with linked pumps, in which one contracts as the other shrinks. That is very close to how the peristaltic pumps of the 'sea suckers' work, and it is something that is also found In Fish gills...
Rodlox: I no longer remember what I had in mind when I drew the scuttle, but the animals you mention must have featured very high on my list.
Nicky: 'Caecus wanna cracker?' I like it. I am a bit puzzled about your wish to have me draw a unicorn or a dragon?
"Sea suckers" are the animals mentioned on the "swimming with" page as AYUL? I do not truly understand how their tubes work, much less the gills of the furahan fishes. Would you mind disclosing some more information about their internal anatomy? My idea was simply two parallel tubes joined at each end, same as for the speculative heart some times ago.
ReplyDeleteI´ve read some papers about squid jet propulsion, according to which squids must compensate for the higher inefficiency of jet propulsion by the more efficient respiratory system http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/atullis/112/squids.pdf
But I´ve learned that the fish use jet propulsion too.
http://darwin.wcupa.edu/~biology/fish/pubs/pdf/1987CopieaFrogfish.pdf
"Sea suckers" are the animals mentioned on the "swimming with" page as AYUL? I do not truly understand how their tubes work, much less the gills of the furahan fishes. Would you mind disclosing some more information about their internal anatomy? My idea was simply two parallel tubes joined at each end, same as for the speculative heart some times ago.
ReplyDeleteI´ve read some papers about squid jet propulsion, according to which squids must compensate for the higher inefficiency of jet propulsion by the more efficient respiratory system http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/atullis/112/squids.pdf
But I´ve learned that the fish use jet propulsion too.
http://darwin.wcupa.edu/~biology/fish/pubs/pdf/1987CopieaFrogfish.pdf
What I meant to say was any kind of species that vaguely reminded an Earthling of a dragon/unicorn, but in a predatory hexapod form. Maybe a rare species perhaps
ReplyDeleteI like seeing how a four winged avian deals with its wings when not flying, especially one this seemingly ungainly. I'd love to see more about the folding patterns you've developed, particularly what advantages there are to having the larger hind wings folded on the inside.
ReplyDeleteEvan - maybe it's like with delta wing planes, the canards are also higher up than the big wings, so with the big wings slightlz lower and behind, it seems natural they'd go underneath the small wings
ReplyDeleteEvan and Petr: I may post about the folding pattern some time ion the future. I can explain about the order of folding though. Petr was right in that the front wings are placed more dorsally. In fact, in some species such as the flyg the front wings partially overlaps the hind wings where they are both attached to the body, which helps the canard effect, but necessitates that the front wings fold over the hind ones. For tetrapterates with long bodies such as the seasoar the wings fold more or less independently. Now that you have seen one avian on a branch, you might wish to consider the position a seasoar assumes when standing on the ground...
ReplyDeleteInteresting beasties, I love the Caecus- alien toucans are an awesome idea!! :) And the dark glasses are adorable. Think you might include a creature like this in the Furahan tree of life someday?
ReplyDeleteI agree, Specubio is better with a sense of whimsy and humor, 'specially considering what nature has cooked up here on Earth. Some squid "fly" short distances, some orchids lure bees in with an elaborate sexual lure shaped like a female bee*, and penguins looks like they are wearing tuxedos to us humans. Who knows what we might find on alien quasi-Earths?
*There was a humorous little SF story about an alien plant that did just this- only with humans. The protagonist and FTL spaceship's computer ultimately take them home and breed them as a concierge service.
Christopher: sorry for the late reply. The Caecus will very probably feature in the Furahan canon (it is too much fun not to have it!).
ReplyDeleteThat SF story sounds good; do you know the author or the title?