Snare Crown

In the wake of the mass extinction reef crowns diversified into new niches, one species becoming quite large relative to other reef crown descendants due to its more predatory diet. The snare crown, as they have been called, are sessile predators that feed on small swimming organisms who stray too close to their grasping tentacles. Pictured here a solitary snare crown has attached to a rock and is waiting for food to swim by. [Creature design by Chared, Doctor Misa, and Saurusblood]

Basic Information

Anatomy

Similar to the ancestral reef crown, the snare crown losses its motile tentacles when it reaches adulthood. They no longer build a tube like structure out of calcium carbonate, now using it as a short rounder shell that attaches to the sea floor or corals. Much of the calcium carbonate has been repurposed to the interior tentacles, converting them into crushing teeth that masticate prey items. The snare crown still lacks a through gut and will simply regurgitate indigestible matter.

Genetics and Reproduction

Snare Crowns are simple male and female broadcast spawners. These spawnings, like with their ancestors, happen every full moon.

Growth Rate & Stages

Snare crowns begin as a larval form that resembles the ancestral Rose Crown. It will spend its first approximately 90 local days as part of the planktonic soup before eventually settling on the seafloor or on a piece of coral.

Ecology and Habitats

Snare Crowns are sessile carnivores who live in the shallow seas around southern Arctica, Yama, and Kub Shay.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The grasping tentacles of the snare crown are very sensitive to touch and have limited chemoreceptors for identifying prey items.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Reef Crown

Scientific Name

Laqueocorona griseo

Origin/Ancestry

Stephanozoa

Lifespan

5 local years

Average Height

8 cm

Geographic Distribution

• Almaishah