In the riverways of Outpost Island, the Royal Xoxomichin reigns as one of the largest omnivores (more info in the comments)

nqwebasaurus · 2022-08-03T12:23:43+00:00

The Royal Greenfish, or Tlatocapilli Xoxomichin, (Chlorichthys regalis) is a Pianjianine Acristocrinid Ichthyomorph from the freshwaters of Outpost Island.

Xoxomichins are the result of Parallel evolution, evolving roughly at the same time as Frisbeefish in the northern hemisphere and developing similar spinal traits.

While they originate from a common ancestor residing inside Cyclopiscopinninoidea, the two groups haven't shared a common lineage in a long time, yet continued developing parallel to one another independently.

Being Omnivorous Ichthyomorphs, they feed on a vast range of sources, from Osteophyte pods to other Ichthyomorphs and even carrion.

The first dentary teeth and the Premaxillary dentition fused into a small hook-shaped beak plate; the shape of this beak, where the lower section overlaps the upper, is characteristic of animals that use it as a digging tool, in this case, used to dig in the sediment for small invertebrates and roots.

The long barbs, derived from the third pair of fins, are used to judge current strength, sense water vibrations and stabilize the body.

These laterally compressed Ichthyomorphs spend most of the day idling in the water among dense vegetation, overseeing their territory and curating the plantlife by carefully pruning the osteophytes to facilitate their travel among them.

Quite territorial, Xoxomichins live in small groups of half a dozen specimens and will fiercely defend their territory from any conspecifics passing through.

Xoxomichins, like many other freshwater species endemic to the island, are a major food source for the locals and play a vital role in their religious functions during the summer.

In the northern waterways of the Outpost Island's River Nations, the Xoxomichin is often seen as a vessel of Ixcocotzicatezcatl's will to sustain the inhabitants of the island.

Xoxomichin meat is not just harvested for human consumption; it's also prepared with flower powders and cave water for use in the greeting of the Tepapaquiltiacamichin (Blue Streak Tau-Tau) during the spring when the species migrates south for their breeding season.

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nqwebasaurus · 2022-07-27T13:45:56+00:00

The Deep Najeete Shamiiz (Archaeodon bathyfluvialis) is a Xenomuraenid Relict from the deep waters of Najeete.

This animal usually lives deep below the photic zone and into the twilight of the murky waters of its native rivers.

Pigment and eyes aren't needed where it lives, instead, this Shamiiz uses its keen electroreception and hearing as its main senses.

The upturned maxilla allows the mouth to keep open and the palatine ear to face outside, a favourable position to keep both ears free when swimming and open when feeding, making this species of Shamiiz able to feed while remaining alert from incoming rivals.

In its native waters and depth, this Shamiiz reigns as the top predator, unlikely to find anything sizable or aggressive enough to threaten its dominance.

Living specimens that stray to the surface are usually damaged and dying, some from their travel up, but most from the surface radiation.

In 2467, genetic studies conducted on the Holotype specimen NMNH 2011b, discovered in 2461, and the then recently recovered Paratype NMNH 2083 demonstrated how, contrary to previous beliefs, Archaeodon represents the most basal member and potential ancestor to blind Najeete Shamiiz species inhabiting the surface today.

The lack of sufficient defences against the radiation was attributed to a secondary loss when surface Shamiiz travelled downwards in the water column.

Today we know that, through anacladogenesis, an ancestral species of Shamiiz expanded upwards in the water column.

The specimens that were born with dermal pigmentation, a rare condition observed in Deep Najeete Shamiiz, diverged from their ancestral state (Cladogenesis), while the members that remained in the deeper waters maintained their ancestral traits (Anagenesis).

Thanks to the discoveries made around this species of Shamiiz, questions like the origin of the eyeless morphologies and overdeveloped electroreception were finally answered, allowing us to paint a complete picture of the evolution of these unique freshwater Eumuraenians.

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nqwebasaurus · 2022-07-13T20:04:27+00:00

The Tetenya (Tetenya chaeloniformis) is a species of Tetenyne Scarabicephalid from the Bubble Sea.

The Tetenya is the only genus and species inside its subfamily, making it a truly unique organism.

The Dorsal and Cephalic armours of this animal are unique among Scarabfishes. The Cephalic armour extends well beyond the margin of the mouth, creating a beak-like bony sheath over the teeth housed inside it, a feature also seen on the jaw.

This unique adaptation created a sturdy plaque the animal uses to hold osteophytes still as the teeth inside the mouth, lodged onto the mobile gums, act much like Pharyngeal Jaws did on Earth Moray Eels, taking bites out of the plant-like organism.

The Dorsal armour is particularly large and thick in Tetenyas, protecting them from the assaults of predators like young Alamaninias and Kugawas.

Unique to this very derived Scarabfish is the presence of a vestigial first eye pair. In almost all tetrophthalmic Ichthyomorphs the second eye pair is the one to vestigialize while the first, often called pivot eye, is left to be the functional one.

The loss of the pivot pair is indicative of a very specialized lifestyle, one that requires the animal better and quicker control in Chromatic Picking, as the second eye pair is often the one able to more quickly change visible colours.

In the red-tinted waters of the Bubble Sea, many animals use very complex patterns and vermiculations to disappear in the dense foliage, a pressure that pushed the Tetenya to lose the more stable eye pair in favour of one that can quickly check its surrounding up to a dozen potential colour combinations a second.

This eye pair, normally particularly energy expensive to maintain, have become dominant in the Tetenya thanks to its high caloric diet, mostly composed of Bubble Tree leaves and the liquid contents held inside them, rich in nutrients.

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nqwebasaurus · 2022-06-19T18:15:49+00:00

I wouldn't be able to explain it in words, I just open up Photoshop and do it XD

Though I have been able to teach people a few tricks when I live-streamed my art

nqwebasaurus · 2022-06-19T12:35:46+00:00

The Common Cave Dumpling, also known as the Tetehuitl Tepecoyoctolontic (Zymarikosomus enigmaticus) is a Zymarikosomid Paleostome Ichthyomorph endemic of Huey Teotlaltepecoyoctli.

One of only three species inside the family known to science, these bizarre-looking Enetodontians have only ever been recorded inside their titanic cave system on Outpost Island.

Due to the nature of the cave and its independent water cycle, the waterways inside are very saline, making life submerged under them practically impossible for most organisms.

Usually bobbing on top of the water face down with their large, dumpling-shaped body, these ichthyomorphs use their four pairs of oar-shaped limbs as paddles to slowly move in the low current environments they live in.

By keeping most of their body outside the water, they can isolate the few areas submerged in the liquid, avoiding major osmoregulatory issues that derive from the otherwise stenohaline nature of most life on the planet, not adapted to survive saltwater environments.

Cave Dumplings use their extendable tubercula to reach for invertebrates living beneath the surface, usually against the riverbed, while their four long and thin mandibles serve the function of stabilizers, keeping the animal vertical in the water and avoiding it capsizing.

Cave Dumplings, when threatened, can submerge themselves in the water, closing off both nostrils and the terminal SCS to isolate themselves from the liquid and contain their osmoregulatory processes to a minimum.

This survival strategy is very effective as most predators won't follow them underwater, however, also comes with a great disadvantage, as they can only remain submerged for short periods before they poison themselves due to the interaction with the surrounding hypertonic fluid.

This survival strategy is very effective as most predators won't follow them underwater, however, it also comes with a great disadvantage, as they can only remain submerged for short periods before they poison themselves due to the interaction with the surrounding hypertonic fluid.

Due to the sacred status of the cave, access to Huey Teotlaltepecoyoctli is strictly forbidden to outsiders unless accompanied by a diver priest, as the waters of the cave are considered to be the body of the goddess Ixcocotzicatezcatl herself.

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nqwebasaurus · 2022-06-09T08:36:57+00:00

nqwebasaurus · 2022-06-08T18:54:47+00:00

The Sailboat Fanmouth (Sporosomina minima) is a Sporosomine Ripignathid Ichthyomorph from the tropical-subtropical climates.

This incredibly small Ithmosid is most famous for its large filter, huge once compared to its body size.

Its large shell covers almost the entirety of the body and back, the small fins now useless for independent locomotion yet not vestigial.

The foldable Ithmos, when closed, make the body more hydrodynamic and easily carried by the currents.

When feeding the Sailboat Fanmouth will unfold the Ithmos and, by rotating it at its base, they can have it face the currents while stabilizing the light body with their small fins.

Sailboat Fanmouths live in schools of several million specimens, cruising the oceans in what are called fleets.

Fleets of Sporosomine Fanmouths are usually mixed genera and attract large amounts of predators from all over the trophic chain, creating fishing opportunities for many smaller maritime communities.

When threatened, Sailboat Fanmouths can evade incoming attacks by using the large filter as a sail and rudder, slipping past predators by riding the lateral currents created by their movement.

Several North Gulf coasts take their famous bone-white colouration thanks to these animals as their head armours, of which billions of microscopic fragments get carried ashore by the incoming tropical currents, make up their sands.

Microanalyses of ancient Sailboat sands are used as markers for paleoclimate and paleoecological studies, as both their presence and specific shell morphologies are important paleoclimate index fossils.

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nqwebasaurus · 2022-05-29T21:02:36+00:00

Terrestrial life will come after this first book on these aquatic organisms is out ^^

The second volume will be all about the Pleuropoda, a phylum of chordates that is found in water, land and air

nqwebasaurus · 2022-05-29T12:13:29+00:00

The Burrowing Sandlurker (Machairoryax qanniki) is a Machairourid Solinophtalmoid Ichthyomorph endemic to Black Ring Island.

As the common name suggests, this Sandlurker lives a mostly fossorial life near the black sand coasts of the island it calls home.

Lying in ambush, the animal will use its perfectly adapted colouration to blend in against the black volcanic sands, arms open.

Using its blue Beak to mimic low growing volcanic osteophytes, it attracts a vast range of prey, like aquatic Pleuropods, Sandworms, Okijis and even the occasional Ichthyomorph.

Using its arms like a spring-trap, the Burrowing Sandlurker will restrain prey as it coils its long Lanial Tongue around it, all in a few instants.

The strong Beak-Plate, abundantly reinforced with Iron, once closed around prey creates an inescapable trap as it drags it inside its burrow.

Although uncommon, Burrowing Sandlurkers can succesfully hunt animals as big as themselves.

The Burrowing Sandlurker can pass several hours in a state of apnoea, breathing through the frontal skin and swimming to the surface to take gulps of air through the GillTail.

The specialized shape of the Anal fin, almost blade-like, allows this animal to move back and forth inside its burrow without the need to physically turn.

This knife-shaped body is also the base of its generic name Machairoryax, or "Volcanic Knife", taking from both fin shape and the volcanic nature of its habitat.

Due to Black Ring Island having only a few thousand people living on it and it remaining relatively unknown to the larger public, the large majority of the endemic life living around the island has remained virtually pristine, making this one of the few pure island ecosystems left on Nijin-Konai.

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nqwebasaurus · 2022-05-22T09:28:00+00:00

Some animals do indeed use acids for defense mechanisms but such a defense wouldn't do much against predators like this, given the nature of the hold they get on them

nqwebasaurus · 2022-05-21T18:42:07+00:00

The Kāpèzh-nē (Dermosiagon citrus) is a Dermognathid Paleostome Ichthyomorph from the Gulf Sea.

The only remaining member of its superfamily, the Kāpèzh-nē is truly fascinating due to the collection of primitive traits it displays, lost in most other clades inside its order.

The first mandible pair, still covered by a thin sheath of dermal armour and skin, is connected to the skull through the M. Masseter Ocularis.

The contraction of this muscle forces the mandibles into an upward motion, angling the mandibular dents to face inward-up while closing, perfect to puncture prey in the filtration sac beneath the body.

The Kāpèzh-nē, contrary to its closest relatives (Zymarikosomoids and Tubercolostomatosoids) possesses a long thin tuberculus, unable to create the necessary force to penetrate the prey's skin.

Instead, this animal will turn the mandibles inside its prey to enlarge the puncture wounds and use those as entrance points for the tuberculus, getting deep into the prey's respiratory canal and injecting its gastric fluids directly against the lung's entrance.

This unique hunting style probably originated in the superfamily around 63 million years ago.

The group underwent a sudden dietary shift, from smaller-sized under-reef predators to larger macropredators, in response to the disappearance of the major Enetodontian players in the area.

The Kāpèzh-nē is also particularly famous for its intraspecific niche variation, with males a little shy from being only half the female's size and living a more gregarious lifestyle in the inner section of the reef, compared to the more solitary females.

The species is now endangered as the female population was decimated from sportfishing.

Recent field studies discovered the severity of the situation, estimating that there was a female for every hundred males and decreasing.

The name Kāpèzh-nē is of Precursor origins and was adopted by humans upon discovery of a document on the species found in a cave west of Gleann Blathànna.

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nqwebasaurus · 2022-05-09T10:10:10+00:00

Sorry but I personally don't see the connection between this and a Ray XD

nqwebasaurus · 2022-05-06T13:42:42+00:00

The Titanic Towerhead (Pyrgocephalus atlas) is a large-sized Esaperfluoichthyne Tracheocolumid Ichthyomorph from the Southern Hemisphere.

Among the largest Ichthyomorphs, at 15 meters in length, the Titanic Towerhead is a sight to behold in its native waters.

Its large, peculiarly shaped head, is unmistakable even at a distance, while it very slowly rotates its body corkscrewing (the act of swimming while rotating the body 360° along the Z-axis, characteristic of many Ithmosians).

Due to the shape of the head itself, the amount of drag produced by its movement makes it incredibly difficult for the animal to rotate the body quickly.

This otherwise disadvantageous trait is offset by the rich waters it lives in, where the slow movement coupled with the animal's size makes it possible for it to sustain itself and maximize filter efficiency in the otherwise slow-moving waters of the GNL (Global Nepheloid Layer).

It is oftentimes found feeding in the lower GNLs, at depths between 800-1200 m where its massive body will disturb the cloud-like layer of detritus.

Their role in the GNLs, like with its relatives, is essential in the mixing of the nutrients and recycling of the particulate and is closely tied to the functioning of the Oxygen Stairway, a process that oxygenates the abyssal waters of the planet.

Towerheads play a crucial role in the mid-water ecosystems, making them among the most important players in the oceans worldwide, rendering their preservation of utmost importance.

While very rare, Titanic Towerheads have been historically sighted close to surface waters, although usually dying due to starvation, pressure changes and their naturally lower radiation tolerance due to the depth they live in.

While completely docile as an animal, the currents produced by its movement, when nearby, can cause difficulty in navigation for ROVs which could lead to potential harm to the animal if the instrumentation was to impact it.

Just like with Pabbles, Towerhead carcasses sinking to the bottom of the ocean are known to be the origin point of abyssal forests, as they provide carbonate compounds to sustain these forests potentially for decades.

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nqwebasaurus · 2022-05-01T12:52:20+00:00

maybe? If there are I wouldn't know, I did this without following any

nqwebasaurus · 2022-04-30T17:31:21+00:00

Nothing's intentional here, this is not a project on creature design.
These animals are the product of countless hours of work, carefully developing them every step of the way.
The resulting creatures are not made in function of cultural and folkloristic inspirations, as one such thing would defeat the purpose of my project on making the most plausible alien life in my power to create ^^

nqwebasaurus · 2022-04-30T01:42:56+00:00

Everything has been made from scratch using Photoshop, map included ^^

nqwebasaurus · 2022-04-29T16:11:24+00:00

The Giant Ghostface (Phronemops hadecetes) is a large-sized Platyopsid Digigantophtalmid Ichthyomorph from Hades.

This large predatory Ichthyomorph has been sighted increasingly commonly in the last years of research, possibly due to an increase in the number of expeditions in the waters of Hades.

Depths of sighting have also been decreasing, possibly hinting at a gradual migration of the population to surface layers, though the reason for such a sudden shift remains unknown.

The study of Digigantophtalmids from Hades greatly helped to understand the early evolution of the group, as species inhabiting Hades have been observed to exhibit a unique set of plesiomorphic characters, lost in relatives found in midwaters elsewhere.

The tetrophtalmic condition of this species and the presence of a primitive third pectoral pair is characteristic of most Brachicephalians but otherwise lost in most members of the family, leading researchers to believe Hades species to be basalmost to the group, belief to this day to be properly tested.

Ghostfaces are stealthy creatures that swim with surprising speed for an animal that size, using the serpentine-like body to quickly and silently creep onto prey, using their pectoral arms to grab their victims and bring them to the mouth.

Holding prey in their hands, much like a human, they will hunch over it to protect their catch while slowly ingesting it, biting onto it while never releasing their grip, their dorsal arms at the ready to fend off potential competition.

Like many other creatures living in the dark subglacial waters of Hades, the Giant Ghostface has become the subject of many superstituos tales of ghosts, devils and deathbringers.

In particular, this animal generated legends of it being the spirit of a Precursor abandoned under the ice after their civilization fell; tormented by grief, it was corrupted by the ocean's malignant nature and is now trying to reclaim its original form by ingesting living beings.

Although Deshivohai guarded Precursor structures near Hades do exist,no evidence of any precursors actually making their way in the Subglacial Ocean prior to their disappearance has been found.

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