Carpotesta Devoratori



By indiscriminately eating virtually anything it can find, Carpotesta Devoratori has split from its ancestor and grown much larger. Spreading into the slope and floor areas of both the LadyM Midnight and Abyss zones. In the deep black depths of the LadyM ocean, the Carpotestan uses primitive whisker-like tendrils, which are capable of picking up disturbances in the water up to 10cm away, to find edible creatures and carcasses. The small tendrils are not strong enough nor developed enough to grasp prey but can push it towards the creature's large open mouth. Muscles in Carpotesta Devoratori's face allow its o-shaped mouth to be opened to fit prey up to 2cm long inside, and closed to keep squirming creatures from escaping. It does not have jaws and as such cannot mash up prey into edible sizes, instead, it relies on capturing organisms within its large basket-shaped stomach, which is attached directly to its mouth. An acidic gel-like substance fills its stomach, derived from its ancestor's sticky membrane. The gel immobilises prey items, slowly digesting them alive. If an item which cannot be digested is caught in the gel, it will be expelled by a blast of water shot through a tube. Said tube is connected to the lungs and in conjunction with muscular contractions, is usually capable of forcing the item out of the gel. If an item becomes lodged in Carpotesta Devoratori's stomach and blocks either way out, the creature will become incapable of feeding and will not survive for long. On its face are several openings through which water is taken in for respiration to its primitive gill-lungs, simple scent organs within the lungs can then detect the smell of nearby rotting flesh, allowing the Carpotestan to find its way to carcasses. Water being in the lungs also helps with buoyancy and can be rapidly drawn into the lungs in order to expel undigestible items. The digested matter is filtered through the other side of the stomach into a primitive intestine, with the waste matter then being released from a small hole on the front underside of the animal. Most notably, Carpotesta Devoratori possesses a simple cerebral ganglion, a very significant advancement from its practically brainless ancestor. In the event that one of the creature's notochords is severely damaged, it can simply use the other one. Lacking bones, the organism has a long organ spread throughout the bottom of its body which produces blood cells.

The creature has developed a more streamlined body and a tail more suited to active sub-carangiform swimming. A docile creature, Carpotesta Devoratori spends most of its day slowly cruising through the water at roughly 0.25mph, its tendrils probing either the sea around it or the seafloor below it. Upon locating prey, it is capable of speeds up to 5mph in order to trap the prey in its stomach. Carpotesta Devoratori also possesses pectoral fins for increased vertical mobility and dorsal fins for stability.

Using its very primitive pigment cup eyes, Carpotesta Devoratori can see light up to 3m away, allowing it to more easily find a mate, and hunt other bioluminescent carpotestans. Its bioluminescent light spots are now fewer in number, making it look smaller than it really is to younger members of its species, which form a significant part of its diet. Upon meeting a female, which has brighter coloured bioluminescent spots, a male will mate with her multiple times, staying with her for several weeks and allowing her to consume most of the food that they find together. Females can produce and expel up to 5,000 tiny, 1.5mm eggs every 2-3 days, meaning that in her 5-8 year lifespan she will likely produce over a million eggs at the very least. Most young Carpotesta Devoratori become food for larger members of their species, being only 1mm long at birth and heavily resembling Carpotesta Luceremundare. As the young grow older, they develop simple eyes and then a mouth around their open stomach, relying on a filter-feeding sticky membrane similar to its ancestor prior to this. Those that do survive to adulthood have virtually no predators at all.