HOME | DD

Description

Scrutters are alien creatures which are fairly common on their homeworld, with over a thousand species spread among two of three of it's primary continents. Their evolution parallels that of terran tetrapods in several ways, even if the transition from sea to land happened more recently there are several notable differences. They have a one way respiratory system with two outflow sporacles in their back half, their eyes are on flexible retractable stalks, their jaws are vertical with a pair of two part jaws and they have four legs. Like with tetrapods, these legs had their origins in fins with bony support rays. Unlike Tetrapods, the pectoral fins in the ancestors of scrutters were fairly large and instead of forming two arms with fingers developed into a pair of ray derived leg clusters. The ancestors of the scrutters had as many as thirty legs, as do some of their less gainly relatives. In the case of scrutters, the number was reduced in large part by fusing pairs of legs together to double up their strength. The result of which was a hexapodal creature which could fairly easily traverse. This coincided with a mutation which reactivated the genes for their ancestor's tail fluke, which proved to be useful for attracting mates and thermo-regulation.

Scrutters range in size from 5 to 85cm long,with this specimen being about normal. They are fairly flexible and well adapted to life on land, even if they do return to water to give birth to aquatic fry. The niche of land plants on their homeworld is largely fufiled by specialized animaloids with symbiotic relations with photosynthetic microbes. This means that the distinction between meat and vegetation is less pronounced and most species of Scrutters are to some degree Omnivorous (as much as that term can be applied).

Description

Scrutters are alien creatures which are fairly common on their homeworld, with over a thousand species spread among two of three of it's primary continents. Their evolution parallels that of terran tetrapods in several ways, even if the transition from sea to land happened more recently there are several notable differences. They have a one way respiratory system with two outflow sporacles in their back half, their eyes are on flexible retractable stalks, their jaws are vertical with a pair of two part jaws and they have four legs. Like with tetrapods, these legs had their origins in fins with bony support rays. Unlike Tetrapods, the pectoral fins in the ancestors of scrutters were fairly large and instead of forming two arms with fingers developed into a pair of ray derived leg clusters. The ancestors of the scrutters had as many as thirty legs, as do some of their less gainly relatives. In the case of scrutters, the number was reduced in large part by fusing pairs of legs together to double up their strength. The result of which was a hexapodal creature which could fairly easily traverse. This coincided with a mutation which reactivated the genes for their ancestor's tail fluke, which proved to be useful for attracting mates and thermo-regulation.

Scrutters range in size from 5 to 85cm long,with this specimen being about normal. They are fairly flexible and well adapted to life on land, even if they do return to water to give birth to aquatic fry. The niche of land plants on their homeworld is largely fufiled by specialized animaloids with symbiotic relations with photosynthetic microbes. This means that the distinction between meat and vegetation is less pronounced and most species of Scrutters are to some degree Omnivorous (as much as that term can be applied).