HOME | DD

Description

Star Crawlers - Stelrepoidea

Overview

Star crawlers are starfish-like organisms that can be found in all Lounian oceans and waterways. They are unanimously slow moving predators or detritivores that are often seen in abundance over sunken carcases. They come in a variety of sizes with rock-pool dwelling species usually being little longer than an inch and more deep-water species reaching several feet in length (though most of the longer species are exceptionally gracile). All thus far discovered species have 12 tentacles that are divided into two groupings - the front-7 and the back-5. The two tentacle groups seem to specialize separately almost always. This can be well noted in witch’s hand crawlers of which the front-7 are armoured at the tip while the back-5 are softer and more flexible. By extension, while most crawlers are soft-bodied and malleable, some species do have chitin-armoured dorsums – typically those that reside in high-predation risk environments.

Crawler mating rituals are fairly simple. They are hermaphroditic organisms that flip flop between which particular Loune-gamete they choose to produce – typically annually. Outright mating is as simple as two individuals releasing clouds of eggs or sperm into the water to mix and fertilize. A common mating event in crawlers is mass gathering. Hundreds or sometimes even thousands of individuals will gather in warm water environments and in-mass release their gametes simultaneously.

Description

Star Crawlers - Stelrepoidea

Overview

Star crawlers are starfish-like organisms that can be found in all Lounian oceans and waterways. They are unanimously slow moving predators or detritivores that are often seen in abundance over sunken carcases. They come in a variety of sizes with rock-pool dwelling species usually being little longer than an inch and more deep-water species reaching several feet in length (though most of the longer species are exceptionally gracile). All thus far discovered species have 12 tentacles that are divided into two groupings - the front-7 and the back-5. The two tentacle groups seem to specialize separately almost always. This can be well noted in witch’s hand crawlers of which the front-7 are armoured at the tip while the back-5 are softer and more flexible. By extension, while most crawlers are soft-bodied and malleable, some species do have chitin-armoured dorsums – typically those that reside in high-predation risk environments.

Crawler mating rituals are fairly simple. They are hermaphroditic organisms that flip flop between which particular Loune-gamete they choose to produce – typically annually. Outright mating is as simple as two individuals releasing clouds of eggs or sperm into the water to mix and fertilize. A common mating event in crawlers is mass gathering. Hundreds or sometimes even thousands of individuals will gather in warm water environments and in-mass release their gametes simultaneously.