Starplugs (Tridentanus spp.)
Creator: Jarlaxle
Ancestor: Leslilstar
Habitat: World Ocean
Size: 2-8mm long
Support: Soft-Bodied (Muscular Hydrostat)
Diet: Parasitism (Direct Coprophagy), Filter-Feeding (Host Gametes)
Respiration: Passive Diffusion
Thermoregulation: Ectotherm
Reproduction: Sexual (Male/Female, External Fertilization)
Startplug has split from its ancestor and found a comfortable place within the hindmost orifice of those larger than itself. It does not harm its host directly but rather feeds mainly on the coming excrement and gametes. Three of its arms have moved to the front, opening up within the cavity to anchor the Starplug into place, they've specialized in absorbing nutrition, and their inner surface is covered in small tubular orifices reaching into the Starplug's digestive tract. The anal arm dangles out of the host's cloaca, taking in oxygen indiscriminately by both its surface and gut tissue, relieving itself of the Startplug's own excrement, as well as releasing pheromones. Evolving male and female gametes to avoid self-fertilization, it uses the four chemoreceptors in the base of the anal arm to detect the pheromones of start plugs of the opposite sex, at which point both will release their gametes out of their anal arms into the water, where the juveniles filter-feed until they are large enough to anchor themselves in a host of their own.
The Starplug has diversified into dozens of species throughout the oceans, specializing in different hosts with different cloaca sizes and eating habits, including the anal arms of other Asterzoa.
This post has been edited by Jarlaxle: Mar 20 2023, 04:26 PM
If I'm not wrong, since this is a genus the name has to be plural
Template:
“Temporary Castration” is a method, and an inaccurate method at that. “Filter-Feeding (Host Gametes)” is probably the best approximation.
Description:
Castration means its host can’t reproduce, but unless it eats too many gametes for the host to reproduce, it would only reduce the host’s effective fertility, rather than castrating it.
“Startplug”: Starplug.
“Hindmost orifice”. There’s no rule the anus or cloaca must be the hindmost orifice of an organism. What’s stopping the anus or cloaca from being closer to the head than, say, stink glands or spinnerets?
“Excrement. while”: There is a capitalization error.
“Starplug lives”: There’s Inconsistent capitalization.
“3 of its arms”: Given the context, “three” is better.
“Anal cavity”: This suggests it only inhabits the bodies of hosts with dedicated anuses, not cloacas, but the description earlier of eating gametes suggests it inhabits cloacas. Various Sagan 4 organisms (Asterzoans and one Luceremundarian) reproduce by cloacal kiss, as birds do, although some have an anus. If it lives in both anuses and cloacas, it’s worth specifying, but this adaptability would probably necessitate specifying particular adaptations (e.g., for acidity), since urine and dung can have different pH, unless it’s excreted all at once, like for birds, which would even it out.
For a reference:
Normal pH range of human urine (4.6-8.0)
Normal pH of human stool (poop): 6.0-7.2
“4 chemoreceptors”: “four chemoreceptors”
“Start plugs”: Starplugs.
“Filter feed”: “filter-feed”.
“sagan”: This is a capitalization error, and it should be “Sagan 4”. “Sagan” is the name of the star. (https://sagan4alpha.miraheze.org/wiki/Solar_System) You might have noticed that some sci-fi planets, such as a few in Star Wars, are named something like “[Name] 4” or “[Name] III”. This is a way of naming planets based on their position to their star.
It sounds as if Starplugs lodge themselves in the middle of the hosts’ cloacal passages or rectums. Depending on the kind of feces the host makes or the force of its urine, it might be dislodged. It would probably be easier for it to have a low profile on one wall, or embed itself slightly into the wall. I was unable to find by a quick search any real-life examples of endoparasites which feed directly on feces within the rectum. A longer search shows pinworms feed on “colonic contents” (dung, at least in some sense) although this is apparently an under-studied aspect of pinworms, as it’s hard to find further information.
It makes sense to make a transitional stage of this which isn’t fully an endoparasite: say, something which lives in the general region of the cloaca or anus and slithers Into the cloaca/anus to rest or hide, like sea cucumber endosymbiotes.
EDIT: I see Oceansky "ninja'd" me as I was writing this. Indeed, the species name must be in the plural. There is the option to make a genus group name have an odd plural, like "sheep", "moose", "deer", "octopi", and so on, but in this case, the species name was probably just an oversight.
“Temporary Castration” is a method, and an inaccurate method at that. “Filter-Feeding (Host Gametes)” is probably the best approximation.
Description:
Castration means its host can’t reproduce, but unless it eats too many gametes for the host to reproduce, it would only reduce the host’s effective fertility, rather than castrating it.
“Startplug”: Starplug.
“Hindmost orifice”. There’s no rule the anus or cloaca must be the hindmost orifice of an organism. What’s stopping the anus or cloaca from being closer to the head than, say, stink glands or spinnerets?
“Excrement. while”: There is a capitalization error.
“Starplug lives”: There’s Inconsistent capitalization.
“3 of its arms”: Given the context, “three” is better.
“Anal cavity”: This suggests it only inhabits the bodies of hosts with dedicated anuses, not cloacas, but the description earlier of eating gametes suggests it inhabits cloacas. Various Sagan 4 organisms (Asterzoans and one Luceremundarian) reproduce by cloacal kiss, as birds do, although some have an anus. If it lives in both anuses and cloacas, it’s worth specifying, but this adaptability would probably necessitate specifying particular adaptations (e.g., for acidity), since urine and dung can have different pH, unless it’s excreted all at once, like for birds, which would even it out.
For a reference:
Normal pH range of human urine (4.6-8.0)
Normal pH of human stool (poop): 6.0-7.2
“4 chemoreceptors”: “four chemoreceptors”
“Start plugs”: Starplugs.
“Filter feed”: “filter-feed”.
“sagan”: This is a capitalization error, and it should be “Sagan 4”. “Sagan” is the name of the star. (https://sagan4alpha.miraheze.org/wiki/Solar_System) You might have noticed that some sci-fi planets, such as a few in Star Wars, are named something like “[Name] 4” or “[Name] III”. This is a way of naming planets based on their position to their star.
It sounds as if Starplugs lodge themselves in the middle of the hosts’ cloacal passages or rectums. Depending on the kind of feces the host makes or the force of its urine, it might be dislodged. It would probably be easier for it to have a low profile on one wall, or embed itself slightly into the wall. I was unable to find by a quick search any real-life examples of endoparasites which feed directly on feces within the rectum. A longer search shows pinworms feed on “colonic contents” (dung, at least in some sense) although this is apparently an under-studied aspect of pinworms, as it’s hard to find further information.
It makes sense to make a transitional stage of this which isn’t fully an endoparasite: say, something which lives in the general region of the cloaca or anus and slithers Into the cloaca/anus to rest or hide, like sea cucumber endosymbiotes.
EDIT: I see Oceansky "ninja'd" me as I was writing this. Indeed, the species name must be in the plural. There is the option to make a genus group name have an odd plural, like "sheep", "moose", "deer", "octopi", and so on, but in this case, the species name was probably just an oversight.
| QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Mar 19 2023, 04:46 AM) |
“Hindmost orifice”. There’s no rule the anus or cloaca must be the hindmost orifice of an organism. What’s stopping the anus or cloaca from being closer to the head than, say, stink glands or spinnerets? |
Do you have an idea for a catch-all term that would include both butstrils and cloacas?
The Sagan 4 Beta timeline has no plents, so no butt-nostrils.
As for a catch-all term..."excretory orifices"? Specifying "anuses/cloacas" would still be useful in the description, though, just in case organisms evolve separate urethras or a novel excretory orifice (e.g., a salt-removing gland in an unusual location).
As for a catch-all term..."excretory orifices"? Specifying "anuses/cloacas" would still be useful in the description, though, just in case organisms evolve separate urethras or a novel excretory orifice (e.g., a salt-removing gland in an unusual location).
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