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Description
another alladoras post in a while!
hebhebfhehahahahaha-

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Pelagys aren't the only "vertebrates" of Alladoras. In fact, just 270 millions of years ago, a group of benthic sea-cucumber-like species became free-swimming. Some evolved to have vertebrae - two vertebrae, similar to the Pelagys (another case of classic convergent evolution), but placed vertically. These early forms were the first costaliberians, a phylum of independently vertebrate-like Alladorian creatures.
A pioneering group didn't use their fins or tail to propel themselves through the water. Unlike early jawless petal-mouthed forms which used their fins to move, a group monopolised a form of movement in jet propulsion. These are the plumoglossions, the jetgillers.
From a glance, Jetgillers are even more difficult to piece together than Pelagys. They have no tail fin, only two fins on their body, a "beak" and a tongue tipped with tightly-packed combs used for sifting the water for microorganisms and zooplankton, and a thin tail, but once you take a closer look, things become to make sense.
Being completely different creatures from the Pelagys, they are radically different in form. Their head has four eyes, and a horny (im sorry) operculum made of calcium carbonate, 2 mandibular tentacles and one "tongue", with fringed setae at the end, like a comb. The body is slender and thin, and they have huge sacs on each side of the body, with a muscular end that can contract and expand - it in fact expands and swallows water, and expels it forcefully, like a squid, but even more sophisticated. It also houses the gills, adding as extra vascular surface area. Two fins on the dorsal and ventral surfaces act as display, stabilisers and steering, and a thin tail remains as a genital organ.
Three species of differing niches are shown above. From top to bottom, the murazha (Temnoperculus posaidonus) is a species of predatory jetgiller, which uses fused, lengthened setae to capture prey, and the operculum, which acts as a protective seal to the mouth in suspension feeders, is now stiffened and lengthened, now adding as a "jaw". The smaller, humble pipsqueak darter (Plumoglossa minor) is a benthic feeder that uses a curled-down tongue to drag across the sea floor, nabbing smaller organisms from the sea floor. An archetypal benthic plumoglossian, it uses its jet gills to dart away from pelagi. From the sea floor to the pelagic ecosystem, the 3-metre long gallant rusher (Calcarostris velox) is a species of huge plumoglossian, being a species which hunts for plankton in the water column, commonly yo-yo diving, alternating between swimming up and down to seek for prey. Gallant rushers are so called for their ability to rush through torrential storms on the surface by quickly jetting and jumping over stormy waters.
For millions of years, the jetgillers have been dominating and monopolising suspension-feeding niches using their jet propulsion and speed. The only filter-feeding pelagi are the huge mantacetids, and its one of the reasons why they are mostly very small. Rising alongside their very very very distant cousins, the Pelagys, they will be the dominant fauna of Alladorian oceans for millions of years to come.

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WHEW BIG JET FELLAS

Description
another alladoras post in a while!
hebhebfhehahahahaha-

---

Pelagys aren't the only "vertebrates" of Alladoras. In fact, just 270 millions of years ago, a group of benthic sea-cucumber-like species became free-swimming. Some evolved to have vertebrae - two vertebrae, similar to the Pelagys (another case of classic convergent evolution), but placed vertically. These early forms were the first costaliberians, a phylum of independently vertebrate-like Alladorian creatures.
A pioneering group didn't use their fins or tail to propel themselves through the water. Unlike early jawless petal-mouthed forms which used their fins to move, a group monopolised a form of movement in jet propulsion. These are the plumoglossions, the jetgillers.
From a glance, Jetgillers are even more difficult to piece together than Pelagys. They have no tail fin, only two fins on their body, a "beak" and a tongue tipped with tightly-packed combs used for sifting the water for microorganisms and zooplankton, and a thin tail, but once you take a closer look, things become to make sense.
Being completely different creatures from the Pelagys, they are radically different in form. Their head has four eyes, and a horny (im sorry) operculum made of calcium carbonate, 2 mandibular tentacles and one "tongue", with fringed setae at the end, like a comb. The body is slender and thin, and they have huge sacs on each side of the body, with a muscular end that can contract and expand - it in fact expands and swallows water, and expels it forcefully, like a squid, but even more sophisticated. It also houses the gills, adding as extra vascular surface area. Two fins on the dorsal and ventral surfaces act as display, stabilisers and steering, and a thin tail remains as a genital organ.
Three species of differing niches are shown above. From top to bottom, the murazha (Temnoperculus posaidonus) is a species of predatory jetgiller, which uses fused, lengthened setae to capture prey, and the operculum, which acts as a protective seal to the mouth in suspension feeders, is now stiffened and lengthened, now adding as a "jaw". The smaller, humble pipsqueak darter (Plumoglossa minor) is a benthic feeder that uses a curled-down tongue to drag across the sea floor, nabbing smaller organisms from the sea floor. An archetypal benthic plumoglossian, it uses its jet gills to dart away from pelagi. From the sea floor to the pelagic ecosystem, the 3-metre long gallant rusher (Calcarostris velox) is a species of huge plumoglossian, being a species which hunts for plankton in the water column, commonly yo-yo diving, alternating between swimming up and down to seek for prey. Gallant rushers are so called for their ability to rush through torrential storms on the surface by quickly jetting and jumping over stormy waters.
For millions of years, the jetgillers have been dominating and monopolising suspension-feeding niches using their jet propulsion and speed. The only filter-feeding pelagi are the huge mantacetids, and its one of the reasons why they are mostly very small. Rising alongside their very very very distant cousins, the Pelagys, they will be the dominant fauna of Alladorian oceans for millions of years to come.

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WHEW BIG JET FELLAS