Monoculus

As the sun sets over the shallow waters of the reefs of Almaishah a large conical shape rises from its night haunt between the rocks in the twilight zone. It is on the look out for any slow moving creatures like certain xenoradiatans of phytozoan. The Monoculus magnurufus, more commonly known as the twilight cyclops, is a large, two meter long predator and scavengers swiming the seas of Almaishah by night. With its large, central eye it stalks the oceans under the cover of darkness, using its superior vision to search for unsuspecting prey to attack. Much like a sea star of earth, the monoculus is a voracious predator and scavenger, but it lives at a different pace than many other organisms. It is adapted for eating tough or even relatively toxic but slow moving organisms. With nothing but it's relatively small fins to propel it, it relies on being intimidating and on its shell to protect it. [Creature design by Lethal Cuteness and Dr. Misa]

Basic Information

Anatomy

The twilight cyclops is a two meter long kelyfoicthyian. While it has a full shell made of carbon-silicates, an abdominal anus, and digestive gland capable of producing sillocytes, this is where the similarities between it and other kelyfoicthyians end. To begin, the twilight cyclops has lost the two rearmost pairs of limbs, which have been converted into hooklike muscles on the edge of the shell which are used to help the organism move its cranial tagma in and out of its shell. Additionally, it has lost the silicate plate on the cranial tagma, and no longer possesses the ability to wholly retract its head into its shell. The first two pairs of fins have been converted into claw-like structures. The outermost four bones have merged into two, with the outermost groups extending out farther on each end to create a claw-like point. This claw-like point is covered in a hard layer of keratin, which it uses to protect the ends of its claws and create a sharp, bladelike structure. These claws allow the cyclops to crawl along the seafloor while it stalks prey, and provide it with the ability to grasp the prey so it can kill and consume it. Along the keratin, sharp hook-like structures line the claw. These hooks consist of silica-tips that grow from the keratin early after its generation, and prevent prey from escaping the cyclops’ grasp. Additionally, these fins have moved forward, and are now located on the cranial tagma. This allows them additional mobility with their limbs, as well as close proximity to the mouth on the underside of their heads. With regards to the interior anatomy, numerous adaptations have evolved to aid the cyclops in hunting and survival. The digestive gland has undergone several changes to the structure of its enzymes, and the gland now produces the necessary hormones, enzymes, and other organic materials necessary to utilize the glyoxylate cycle. These materials are held within converted sillocytes, and thus allow the organism to convert lipids into carbohydrates (and glucose) directly without having to rely on the inefficiency of exchanging resources with symbiotic microbes performing this process. This in turn has made the organism far better at withstanding starvation, as it does not need to break down proteins into amino acids to use for gluconeogenesis via. the citric acid cycle - thus allowing it to avoid atrophying its protein stores for a longer period of time. This system also allows it to more efficiently break down the high amounts of lipids it consumes regularly, granting it one of the more efficient digestive systems oriented towards carnivory on Almaishah currently. Another important change between itself and more basal members of cephaloptinae is its complete loss of external gill fronds. Rather, the twilight cyclops relies entirely on its internal ctenidia within the ctenidian coelom. It shares a unidirectional flow of water through the ctenidian coelom through the use of valves leading from the esophagus and out into the mouth with the tigersnail - in fact, this trait is shared by almost all cematokelyfosians. Additionally, the twilight cyclops’ shell consists of numerous air pockets filled with waste gases such as CO2 and Methane (produced by symbiotic chemochoids). Rarely, hydrogen gas may also be released into these air pockets in small quantities - resulting in the creation of methane and trace amounts of oxygen gas. These air pockets allow the twilight cyclops to maintain a relatively high level of buoyancy, allowing it to easily glide and propel itself through the water column.

Genetics and Reproduction

The twilight cyclops is a diploid simultaneous hermaphrodite that relies on a fairly different strategy for reproduction compared to other cephaloptins. Roughly once per 16 local days, twilight cyclops’ lay clusters of up to 15 eggs in a small sac, which are deposited on the ocean floor. These egg-sacs consist of a membrane that slowly dissolves, releasing pheromones that other twilight cyclops can detect. Whenever a twilight cyclops detects these pheromones and approaches them, they will release their male gametes in a large plume to fertilize the eggs. After this, it will simply leave the eggs to fend for themselves.

Growth Rate & Stages

Cyclops eggs hatch after about one local day, and the small larvae will swim into the water column. These larvae are small and underdeveloped, and as such cannot freely swim or hunt. As a result, they float freely through the water column and are sustained by a small yoke attached to their abdomen. The cyclops larva will remain in this state for approximately seven local days, during which they will develop into a small worm-like organism with the characteristic eyes and fins of the taxa. After developing into a nymph, the cyclops young will sink to the benthic layer and utilize their claws to dig a small 10 centimeters long burrow into the sediment. The nymph will hide in this burrow until it is approximately 60 local days old, when it will have developed a proper shell around its abdomen and posterior tagma. Until this occurs, it will live as a burrowing ambush predator and attempt to learn to hunt. Since its yoke runs out at the beginning of this phase of life, nymphs that cannot learn to hunt will die. Those that are successful will rapidly develop their external shells and grow in size. After 40-60 local days the cyclops nymphs develop their external shells to enough of a degree to leave their burrows and learn to hunt in the water column. While the environment has changed, the hunting strategy employed by this species is not particularly different in adulthood - hunting is still based on lunging out from underneath prey as a means of ambushing it. Those nymphs that are most successful will grow faster - and will also reach larger sizes, thus enabling them to reproduce for a longer span of time and thus propagate their genes more efficiently. It is also worth noting that the greatest danger to the nymphs at this phase of life are adult twilight cyclops, as the species does demonstrate cannibalistic tendencies towards juveniles. Nymphs mature into adults after about 150 local days, after which they are full adults - usually just under 2 meters in length. At this point, they will lay their first clutch of eggs and begin to seek out other egg clusters - thus producing offspring of their own. These young adults will continue to grow for the rest of their lives, however most specimens will never grow beyond a size of 2 ½ meters; though there are some rare specimens recorded to have reached sizes of up to 3 meters in length.

Ecology and Habitats

The twilight cyclops inhabits most of the Yama Kub-Shay Major Reef System, and thrives in the shallow waters that enable it to dart up into the water column by pushing off of the seafloor. As a result, the twilight cyclops can be found from the southern tip of Kub-Shay to western Artica.

Biological Cycle

The twilight cyclops is a carnivorous organism, gaining most of its nutrition from the lipids stored in its prey. The organism will hunt almost anything smaller than it so long as it can grab it with its claws and use its radula to tear into the organism. One strategy the organism uses to hunt is by pressing itself low to the seafloor and crawling along it whilst looking up for prey, making use of its weak (but still effective) infrared vision to search for prey above it. When it has located prey, it will creep along the seafloor until it is within striking range, after which it will lunge into the water column by kicking off of the seafloor with its fins and rush towards its prey. If its prey is unable to get out of range in time, the twilight cyclops will grasp it with its powerful claws and proceed to use its radula to kill and consume the creature.Additionally, if this has been less successful it will begin searching the surface for slower bottom dwelling organisms.  Due to the efficiency of the organism’s digestive system when digesting lipids, the twilight cyclops can go up to 60 local days without eating. However, should it begin to starve and deplete its supply of lipids, the results are devastating - the loss of musculature within its limbs depletes the organisms’ ability to lunge off of the seafloor, rendering hunting almost impossible. Thus, while the amount of time until starvation is extended, the onset of the consequences is magnified significantly due to the nature of the twilight cyclops’ metabolism and digestive strategy.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The greatest and most visual changes to the organism’s anatomy are its eyes - most prominent of these is the singular large eye which lends the creature its name. The eyes of the twilight cyclops can be divided into two types: a singular large eye and two smaller lateral eyes. The two smaller eyes are held on flexible eye-stalks, and are mainly used to provide the twilight cyclops with vision around its body - especially behind it. These eyes, while not as advanced as the central eye, are still quite complex camera-type eyes capable of detecting a significant range of low-frequency colors, such as yellow, orange, red, and the upper portion of the infrared spectrum. The large central eye, on the other hand, is far more complex. Besides the large size which grants a great deal of precision and range of vision, these eyes also contain opsins sensitive to infrared light - which has evolved at the expense of its colored vision. As a result, this organism possesses the ability to see reasonably well at night - a trait that has proven invaluable when hunting prey and living a nocturnal lifestyle. This organism relies on its central eye to maintain its circadian rhythm as well, and can perform stereopsis through the combined use of its central and secondary eyes - the combination of up to threedifferent perspectives results in some of the most effective - but not flawless - depth perception. Its greatest weakness in this trait, however, is its use of light cues from the moonlight shining above it, as it relies on detection of different hues through the use of its two secondary eyes as a cue to enhance its depth perception. If these colors are manipulated in such a way as to dilute these hue differences, the twilight cyclops’ depth perception can potentially fail to function properly - leading to a significantly greater chance of failed hunting attempts.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Xenoeuly kirbyi

Scientific Name

Monoculus magnurufus

Lifespan

20 local years

Average Height

66 cm

Average Length

2 m