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Tarturus — Sky worms on barren island

#barren #island #ocean #resting #scifi #sea #waves #xenobiology #tarturus #insulae #aliencreature #alienplanet #alienworld #flyingcreature #sciencefiction #speculativeevolution #speculativebiology
Published: 2021-05-25 04:36:13 +0000 UTC; Views: 2858; Favourites: 2; Downloads: 0
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Description A bunch of sky worms rest on a small rocky island battered by the waves. One of them is feeding on a jet tube it caught. The island is quite barren and the only plant life to be seen in this scene is a web plant growing on the shoreline.

While Insulae has no continental land masses, a number of the islands do get quite big and can thus support such ecosystems as forests and land reefs. However, there are also numerous far smaller islands including a number that get as small as one kilometre or less in diameter.

Some islands are so small that the only plants growing on them are some sea shrubs and web plants (the latter are a group of plants that take the form of flat web-like structures clinging to the ground, often found on rocky beaches or near ponds and creeks). Some islands are even smaller still and are essentially just rocks protruding from the sea. Nevertheless, small islands are still attractive places to a number of creatures.

It is common to find fair numbers of sky worms hanging out on small islands. Some come from larger islands and use the small islands as resting spots on flights far out to sea. Others will lay their eggs on these islands. Of these, at least some seem to actually live their whole lives on these small islands. While there is not really any good food sources on the islands themselves, they still manage to get plenty of food from the surrounding sea.

Some tube seals will also come to small islands to birth and raise their pups. While most tube seals seem to prefer the beaches on the larger islands, there are those that seem to exclusively or almost exclusively go for the smaller islands, sometimes even for those of the small rocky outcrop variety.

One of the advantages of being on the small islands is a lack of predators. The larger predatory sky worms seem to prefer hunting over larger more bio-diverse islands while predatory jet tubes and paddle fins are aquatic hunters that cannot come onto the land. Thus these islands can act as safe havens for things like sky worm eggs and tube seal pups.

One of the disadvantages of being on the small islands is a lack of protection from ocean storms. One of the consequences of this is enormous waves mercilessly battering the islands (and sometimes washing completely over the really small ones). Once an island gets below a certain size then moving further inland for protection against storms ceases to become a viable option. Some creatures find other means of protection. Sky worms can try to keep eggs safer by sticking them under rocks or in rock openings. Tube seals may birth pups only in less stormy times of the year. Nevertheless, life on Insulae's smaller islands can be just as risky as it is beneficial.
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