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August 3, 2011
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:iconnocturnalsea:
While creating the boukalizoans and helicozoans for the Gas Giant contest at [link] I came up with a ton of other creatures inhabiting the planet. I've decided to keep going with this theme and create my own gas giant ecology.
I haven't fully fleshed out the world itself, though I know it is a giant very similar to Jupiter with a thin ring made of ice and planetary debris, as well as numerous moons. The planet itself is called Coatlicue after the Aztec mother-goddess.

This creature is the Foliose Skydart, Astronavigator glaciophagus, nicknamed the "Star Duck" by researchers due to its kind of goofy-looking rostrum. The skydart spends its life traveling between the upper atmosphere of Coatlicue and the ice balls that make up the inner ring. The animal's entire body is covered in tough, vacuum-proof armor that also provides some protection from random space debris. The long, whip-like tendrils on the star duck's anterior end are sensors that help it locate the ring via the interference it creates in Coatlicue's magnetic field (many of the ice balls contain iron deposits from exploded moons). The skydart propels itself through space with what is, in essence, an organic jet propulsion system created by burning organic rocket fuel obtained from organisms in the planet's atmosphere. Oxygen for this combustion reaction is produced by the branching, photosynthetic microorganisms that cover the skydart's back.
Upon landing on an ice body, the skydart's "beak" actually splits into several stylets that anchor it in place while it rasps at the surface with a radula-like tongue to obtain ice, iron and other nutrients from the ground. Before returning to the gas giant, the sky dart also lays a small clutch of eggs on the ice body.

In addition to the photosynthesizers, there are also hundreds of other kingdoms of microorganisms with a wide variety of metabolisms lying dormant within the branches of the forest on the skydart's back. If a branch is broken off, some of these organisms will awaken and begin to metabolize, thus creating a miniature ecosystem much like a bacterial mat on Earth. Exactly which microorganisms awaken depends on local conditions. The colony in the upper left was collected in the upper atmosphere of Coatlice. It is composed primarily of "bacteria" that utilize magnetic fields for their metabolism, coupled with creatures that produce sacs full of bouyant gas to keep the colony afloat. The one on the right was found growing on the shores of a hydrocarbon lake on Huitzilipochtli, a moon with an atmosphere. This colony is a fungus-like organism that feeds directly from the methane and ethane saturating the ground.
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:iconfclittle:
*FCLittle Apr 3, 2012  Hobbyist Digital Artist
Very interesting stuff here.....
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:icontarturus:
~Tarturus Mar 22, 2012  Hobbyist Digital Artist
This seems like quite a well thought out creature concept. :thumbsup:
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:icondurendal5150:
~Durendal5150 Mar 14, 2012  Hobbyist Writer
I really do enjoy speculative alien biology when its taken seriously.

On that note, I read a book about just such a subject awhile back [link]
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:iconnocturnalsea:
~NocturnalSea Mar 14, 2012  Professional Traditional Artist
Hey, I remember that book! I saw that years ago in a Borders.
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:icondurendal5150:
~Durendal5150 Mar 14, 2012  Hobbyist Writer
I bought my copy at a dollar store. :p

Was interesting for the science, though the character development was a little contrived.
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:iconet8000:
~ET8000 Dec 6, 2011  Student General Artist
:la:
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:iconamnioticoef:
Actually, there's already a fictional planet named Coatlicue: [link]

Great piece :) .
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:iconnocturnalsea:
~NocturnalSea Aug 16, 2011  Professional Traditional Artist
Dang. Well, I'll let him have Coatlicue since he used it first. Guess I better go plumb some other mythology for names.
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:iconamnioticoef:
You could maybe name your world Citlalicue, after the Aztec creator of the stars.
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:iconlizerdspherex:
It's crazy to imagine non-sentient organisms seeding their own moons with life. Even more crazy to imagine the biodiversity those action will produce!
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