#troglofauna

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: cave fish

Prepare for a deep dive today. Not because I'm going to be more in-depth than usual, but because we're talking about caves. Which are deep. In the ground.... Yeah, you get it. Today is going to be a bit different from my normal WBW posts. Instead of going in depth on a particular species or group of related species I'm going to discuss common adaptations fish evolve to live permanently in caves and then go over a few species I find interesting. Let's get spelunking.

(Image: Typhleotris madagascariensis, a typical cave fish. It is a small fish with an entirely white body and smooth skin where the eyes would be on a normal fish. It is resting on rocky sediment. End ID)

Caves are not an easy place to live. There's no light, limited food, often low oxygen levels, and the threat of collapse or rockfall. Cave-swelling animals (collectively called troglofauna) need a number of special adaptations to survive and there is little room for error. Troglofauna that are strictly aquatic are called stygofauna. Troglofauna and stygofauna can be divided into three groups based on their life history. Troglophiles and stygophiles complete part of their life cycle in caves and part outside of them. A classic example of this is the many species of bat who seasonally inhabit caves to give birth and mate. Trogloxenes and stygoxenes are animals who will visit caves, but do not require time in caves to complete their life cycle. An example trogloxene would be a bear who takes shelter in a cave during winter. Finally, troglobites and stygobites live their entire lives in caves and never leave. The fish I discuss today are stygobites. Because troglobites and stygobites generally will die outside of their caves, they have very little opportunity to disperse. As such, many cave fish species are found only in a single cave or cave system and are entirely dependent on the health of their homes to survive.

(Image: two cave catfish sitting next to each other on a rock. They are white with elongated anal and rear dorsal fins, and no eyes. End ID)

Many cave-dwelling animals develop a set of common adaptations called troglomorphism. Cave water is often high in minerals but low in oxygen and food content. To survive, the fauna develop very slow metabolisms, allowing them to last a long time on limited resources while slowing down movement and other active systems and increasing age. These species are also typically smaller than their epigean (above-ground) relatives, further reducing their energy requirements. Slowed metabolism results in comparatively slow development. Cave species take much longer to mature and reproduce then related epigean species. Many species further decrease their energy consumption by moving as little as possible. Many species of cave fish are able to last long periods of time between meals without negative impacts to their health. They will binge eat whatever they can find and then subsist on fat stores while food is scarce. One test in captivity showed that a Phreatobius cisternarum (cave catfish) could go a while year between meals and stay healthy. Cave species are usually opportunistic generalists as they can't afford to pass up resources. Much of their food will originate outside of the cave, either directly or indirectly. Water flow into caves brings in algae, bacteria, plankton, and other food sources. Other more indirect methods of introducing include bat feces. While the fish may not eat the feces directly, other species may do so and potentially become prey to the cave fish. The feces also introduces nutrients from outside the cave that encourages the growth of other food sources like bacteria, fungi, and planktonic animals.

(Image: Amblyopsis hoosieri, the hoosier cave fish. It is a very simplistic fish with no eyes or scales. End ID)

Life in a cave comes with a different sensory requirement. The complete lack of light makes vision useless. You don't know dark until you've seen cave dark. Fun fact: caves are so dark that sighted people can start hallucinating in them because our brains aren't evolved to handle zero visual stimulus and will start making stuff up to fill that gap. As a result of the utter darkness, many species of cave fish are blind. They either evolve to completely lose their eyes or have the eyes considerably reduced in size and function. Eyes take up a lot of energy to maintain and in caves, there is a lot of selective pressure to get rid of organs that aren't useful there. Despite the blindness, many species retain some form of photosensitivity and will flee from light. Cave species also often lack skin pigmentation. Skin pigment has two primary uses. It protects the skin from ultraviolet light in sunlight, and provides skin coloration that can be used for camouflage, displays, warnings, and so on. In an environment where there is no ultraviolet light and everyone is blind, skin pigment serves no real purpose and is lost. As a result, most cave species are white or translucent. The lack of pigment may be a reason so many species remain photosensitive. Without pigment, they would be highly susceptible to sunburn or skin cancer from ultraviolet light. Caves also have a sound dampening effect that makes hearing less valuable. Reduced eyes and pigmentation is also seen in deep sea fish that live too deep for light to reach. Even those species still use visual curs more than cave fish due to the abundance of bioluminescence in the deep ocean.

(Image: Sinocyclocheilus longicornus, a recently discovered species. It is a fish with translucent skin, revealing the skeleton. It has a long shout with two pairs of barbels. Emerging from the upper back is a horn-like protrusion. End ID)

With vision off the table, cave fish rely on other senses. chemoreception through taste and smell are strongly selected for as traits that can direct cave animals toward food or away from threats. Another sensory system fish have is the lateral line. The Lateral line is an organ system found on each side of a fish where modified skin cells called hair cells detect motion in the water. The lateral line allows fish to sense movement in the water around them, informing them of water flow and the movement of food and threats. Cave fish typically have a well-developed lateral line system that compensates for the lack of vision. Many fish perform displays for various reasons, such as attracting mates. These displays are typically visual, but in cave fish, that isn't an option. Instead, their displays are more focused on moving the water in ways that can be detected by lateral lines. Some species of cave fish maintain additional sensory abilities from their epigean ancestors. An example of this are cave catfish, who retain the barbels and electroreception common to their kind.

(Image: six Phreatichthys andruzzii. They are long, eyeless, white fish. The blood-filled gills are visible through its translucent skin, seen as a large red patch on the head. End ID)

Before moving on to specific species, it should be noted that cave fish is not a taxonomic category. Cave fish come from many different lines of descent and independently evolved similar adaptations to cave conditions. These similar adaptations are seen in most cave fauna, not just fish, and are collectively called troglomorphism. There are about 300 species of cavefish known to science.

Ophisternon candidum, or the blind cave eel, lives in north Australian caves that are connected to the ocean. Because these caves intake salt water, the pools and streams within them can become very salty, resulting in the eels developing a tolerance to a high range of salinity. They are rare, having been spotted under 40 times since 1959, and thus little is known of their lifestyle. We do know they burrow into sediment and secrete mucus to keep those burrows stable. Males seem to build burrows to woo females. They have been bred in captivity for use un laboratories. At up to 40 cm long, they are huge for cave fish and used to hold the record for the largest species known until another species was found that's even bigger.

(Image: an eel with translucent, pink skin, no eyes, and ribs visible through the skin. It looks somewhat like an earthworm. End ID)

The actual largest known cave fish is Neolissochilus pnar, which gets up to 40 cm while being more massive than the eel. They are found in a single cave system 100 meters underground in India. The primary food source in the cave appears to be debris from the nearby forest that is washed into the cave during seasonal flooding. The fish may have been known to locals well before it was scientifically described, as there are stories of white cave fish going back over a century in the region.

(Image: a small fish with no eyes, white skin, and a long snout with barbels on it)

The Alabama cave fish (Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni) may be the rarest species of freshwater fish in the world. They live exclusively in key cave, Alabama, USA and no more than 10 have ever been seen at a time. The population is estimated to be under 100, below the generally accepted minimum viable population for a species of 200. Fittingly enough, this means a species only found in Alabama may be severely inbred. They are believed to be triggered to mate by seasonal flooding and may be mouth brooders. Climate change-caused changes to flooding and toxins leaking into the groundwater from sewers are currently threatening them with extinction.

(Image: a long, white, eyeless fish with an elongated snout. Its skeleton is visible through its skin. End ID)

Typhliasina pearsei, the Mexican blind brotula or dama blanca ciega (blind white lady), lives in the cenotes of the Yucatán peninsula. Cenotes are sinkholes filled with groundwater and the ones in the Yucatán are often connected by underground caves, rivers, and aquifers. The fish are apex predators who eat shrimp and mysids and are known to coexist with other cave fish in part of their range. As with other brotulas, they are a rare example of a bony fish that gives live birth. Because of how interconnected and numerous the cenotes are, this species has one of the largest distributions of all cave fish.

(Image: an eyeless white fish with a long tail and elongated rear dorsal and anal fins. It is next to an orange rock. End ID)

Cryptotora thamicola, the cave angel fish or waterfall climbing cave fish, is the adrenaline junkie of the cave fish world. Most cave fish live in slow-moving or still water, but this daredevil lives in rapids. But just living in rapids isn't extreme enough, these guys climb waterfalls. Their large fins with hooked fin rays let them cling onto the rocks while facing into the current. They then allow food to flow right into their mouths. Unlike other walking fish, the waterfall climbers have a well-developed pelvic girdle and walk in a style very similar to tetrapods, with front and back fins alternating strides. This has made them very interesting to evolutionary biologists studying the transition from fish to tetrapods.

(Image: a typical cave fish with very large pectoral and pelvic fins. End ID)

The Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus) is an example of a handful of fish species that have a cave form and a non-cave form. Most Mexican tetras are perfectly ordinary tetras, but one population has adapted to cave living and has developed trogomorphic traits. The cave from lack pigment, has tastebuds on its head, lacks eyes, and can store more body fat. While you would expect such radical physiological differences to mean the two populations are different species, they aren't. The two populations are fully capable of producing fertile offspring and do so in the wild. If you've ever seen a cave fish in person, there's a good chance it was one of these as the cave form has entered the pet trade and they do very well in captivity, making them the most studied cave fish.

(Image: the non-cave and cave forms of the Mexican tetra seen next to each other for comparison. The non-cave form is a fairly typical silvery-green fish. The cave form is slightly more robust, white, and eyeless. End ID)

Because most cave fish are found only in a singe cave or cave system, they are fully dependent on the health of that cave. Caves tend to be very stable environments, which results in the inhabitants being pretty bad at adapting to change. Changes in water flow, introduction of new species, and pollutants can seriously harm or wipe out whole species. Many species of cave fish are rated as endangered or critically endangered based on their low populations and vulnerability to change.

[dooober]

i love you siphonophores, i love you troglofauna, i love weird little guys that live in fucked up states of being.

like come ON!

[tribbetherium]

While a relatively secluded ecosystem, the caverns of Arcuterra have expanded greatly over the last few million years. Consisting of a network of tunnels, chambers and crevices spanning for miles underground, the floor space of the caves have now exceeded those of a small island comparable to Earth's Tasmania-- and has gotten large enough to have several sub-biomes within itself, some levels more superficial and closer to the outside world where the abundance of nutrients trickling in allows the lush forest-like growth of subterranean pseudo-flora, and others beneath the upper layers where groundwater and detritus accumulates, forming stagnant, muddy swamps where, against all odds, life finds a way to thrive.

One of the ecosystem's most abundant animals are the feelerflits: the caverns' only flying animals. Descended from dipteran flies, their forebearers once did lose their wings in their initial colonization--yet over time re-evolved this ability through atavistic mutations once the caves had expanded enough to make flight advantageous again: though now, in pitch black darkness and without vision.

Feelerflits, however, managed to adapt by developing especially-hypertrophied feelers both on their antennae and their abdominal cerci, giving them the ability to detect movement both forward and behind. This, coupled by pressure sensors and long hairs on their feelers, allow them to discern their environment in flight, while olfactory and theroreceptor cells allow them to pick up thermal and chemical signals to recognize food, enemies, and conspecifics.

Most of the common feelerflits (Phantasmusca spp.) are generalist omnivores, feeding on decaying matter, shroomor spores and fungi, but some, in the abundance of resources and lack of competition, have ascended a rung in the food chain. The murksquitoes (Anophelomimus spp.) have become part-time parasites, supplementing their diet of mocklichen spores by biting larger animals such as daggoths, especially females that require additional protein in producing their eggs. Others, the darkdarters (Quadropteroides spp.) have become predators, preying on other feelerflits. With their halteres enlarged to resemble a second pair of wings but used as organs of balance instead, they are agile in the air, seizing other, smaller feelerflit species with spiny grasping forelimbs and using a sharp proboscis to pierce the bodies of their prey.

This abundance of insects, arthropods and other invertebrates has led to other unique specializations among the daggoths: the cavern systems' dominant troglofauna. Many are specialized insectivores, typically smaller species, but also some unusual outliers among the larger kinds.

One such creature is the trunked tendrilcrown (Oroproboscimys nasocephalus), a member of the cavehopper family that, unlike its other grazing kin, has adapted an elongated snout from the elongation of its lips, forming a trunk-like appendage with its mouth opening at the end, out of which emerges a long, sticky tongue equipped with small barbs, ideal for piercing through mocklichens to get at the interior, reaching into crevices to pull out rootlike mycelia, and most importantly to raid insect nests and feed on the inhabitants. Its trunklike appendage only contains its mouth, with its nostrils set far back behind the top of its head, keeping the vulnerable orfices far from reach of its biting insect prey.

Tendrilcrowns, like most other cavehoppers, are gregarious creatures that seek safety in numbers from predators like blindmutts and tendriltooths. They use their tail, atypically long for a daggoth, as a scent-marking organ to set territorial boundaries and identify related individuals. Yet, as their social behavior are merely for protection, their individual bonds are rather weak. When startled by predators, they individually flee with powerful thrusts of their leaping hind limbs, displaying little concern for their fellows whose company they only partake in to reduce the chances of individually being caught.

The cavehoppers may be agile and flighty creatures, but in the limited space, not all daggoths share their energetic means of movement. Some daggoths are content with a slower-paced life: especially those that live in the lower levels of the cave systems where fewer food is available and energy is better off conserved.

The gloomy squonk (Trogloporcimys nasoculus), one species of the gloomhogs in relation to the biblarodons, lives in the basement-levels of the cavern systems: where the muddy deposits gather into the large, wide chambers into a sort of underground marshland. Here, underneath the organic sludge, specialized filamentuous fungi grow in soggy, fibrous clusters, absorbing and converting the detritus back into biomass that, in turn, is the primary food of the gloomy squonk. Its ghostly eye-like orfices are in fact enlarged nostrils on its inverted, upturned snout, as it has adapted for spending much of its time wallowing in the subterranean swamps scraping off the fungi from the bottom, surfacing time and time to breathe. With larger nostrils as well as a markedly larger lung capacity, it is able to take in more air per breath, allowing it to make the most of the thin, oxygen-poor atmosphere so deep beneath the ground.

Its sluggish demeanor, large fat-storing body and glycogen-storing liver allow the gloomy squonk to survive for long periods without food, in one of the less-hospitable regions of the cavern system, where growths of its preferred forage follow irregular boom-and-bust cycles depending on how much nutrition is available from higher rungs. This, however, makes it an ideal potential meal for younger tendriltooths that may wander down lower crevices to avoid competition from aggressive and cannibalistic adults. However, while slow and typically placid, the squonk is not entirely defenseless. Its jaws, strong enough to tear fungal mycelia from rocky anchors, can also inflict a vice grip onto a would-be predator, after which it submerges into the muddy sludge in an attempt to drown its assailant.

Similarly, while some of the blindmutts became active, pouncing ambush predators, others, the cavegleaners, took on a more slow-paced lifestyle, wandering along as foragers and scavengers, picking on shroomors, insects, small daggoths and carrion, and thus alleviating competitive pressure from the tendriltooths, who now seldom consider them a threat and rarely bother attacking them.

The ridge-headed whiskersaw (Heliconasodon rubrilophus) is one such cavegleaner, often drawn to the leftover kills of tendriltooths to finish off the remains left behind once the predator is sated. Like the tendriltooth, the whiskersaw is equipped with sharp keratinous serrations on its nasal tendrils that function much like teeth. Yet now, with its foraging lifestyle, the whiskersaw now puts its false dentition to a strange use: coiling its two most prominent tendrils into tight spirals with the spines pointing outward, it then rotates them against one another as they uncoil back and forth: forming two abrading "polishers" that cleanly scrape the last residues of meat attached to bones, especially those out of reach of other predators. When uncoiled, these spiny appendages can also be inserted into hollows of bones to access the marrow, or be probed into the burrows of small prey to be extracted from their hiding spots.

The other conspicuous feature of the whiskersaw is of course the two fleshy ridges that adorn its head: the frontmost rims of which are made of highly-vascularized tissue that can be engorged and distended with specialized blood vessels to release a small amount of body heat. These are picked up by the thermoreceptors found on the nasal tendrils of other whiskersaws, in essence being used as a display organ by a species without eyes to see visual cues. Being mesothermic, like most daggoths, the display is a very energy-intensive effort in relative terms, and to the solitary creatures only means one of two things: a dominant male asserting his strength to a potential rival, or a receptive female advertising her readiness to breed. Also like the majority of other daggoths, the undeveloped but precocial young recieve minimal parental care, nursing for only a day or two before being deposited near abundant food sources conducive to their growth and survival.

A wide variety of large fauna now thrive among the drier regions of the caverns, which, while still smaller than surface animals due to the more limited space and resources, nonetheless reach impressive sizes for a cave-dweller. But the aquatic biomes of the caverns are not left out by such trends, as some aquatic daggoths have grown quite large, in particular the deeplake trogadile (Troglomyosuchus pennadactylus) which can reach lengths of up to a meter long or more.

While the tendriltooths are the top predators of the land, the trogadiles are the apex carnivores of the underground rivers and lakes where an impressive array of organisms thrive: aquatic insects, shrish, pescopods, hampreys and tubesnouts alike, dependent on a base producer of chemosynthetic bacterial mats and aquatic meatmoss, growing in thorny fronds like animal kelp. All of these are food for the trogadile: not a picky eater, it catches food with its muscular fused nasal lobes as well as two smaller tendrils equipped with sharp claw-like points, and using its extensible snorkel-like nostrils to breathe at the surface every few minutes, sometimes lying motionless just below the surface with only its snorkels exposed, waiting to strike at unwary prey.

Their specialized limbs, modified into flipper-like paddles, undulate rhythmically to propel themselves through the water, but, conversely, now make them practically immobile on land as grown adults, entirely helpless and vulnerable if beached. Young individuals, a few inches long at birth, however can manage a clumsy scuttle across dry land, enough to be able to disperse into other bodies of water. Once grown, they are permanently waterbound, though populations can still intermingle genetically despite isolated pools being separated, due to the amphibious capabilities of the juveniles.

Many branches of the daggoth evolutionary family have thus produced a wide variety of some of the strangest and most alien-looking forms ever assumed by a rodent: to such an extent that many are scarcely ever recognizable as such. Many of these arise from derived lineages, but, from the gothtles, one of the most basal lineages, bizarre yet oddly familiar forms too have since emerged. These animals, in their basal forms once top predator of the caves, now find themselves at the bottom of the food chain, preyed upon by their distant kin: while some such as the xenomures adapted to flee and hide, others armed themselves with strange weaponry to to ward off and injure their enemies.

The veiled sixclaw (Hexaceratonychus cryptocephalus) is one such unusual species that, when threatened, conceals its face and sensitive nasal tendrils in a fold of thick skin as it curls itself up into a tight ball: leaving only six prominent defensive spines exposed. These long, horn-like projections are, surprisingly, actually elongated claws: attached to mobile, specialized digits, they can point in any direction to painfully stick into a predator's mouth, and, even when moving about and actively foraging, the sixclaw bears its weaponry in arms, raised above and behind its body to make it difficult to grab. Able to move together, they can pinch the tendrils and toes of an enemy, hard enough to draw blood, even if successfully picked up.

This ability for the digits to grip in junction has been put to good use by some species. The shield-faced pintler (Durocephalomus carcinychus) specifically has hypertrophied the first two pairs of its digits to use almost as grasping pincers, able to partly oppose and each equipped with a large, retractable claw. These serve it good use in excavating burrows, tearing apart food, defending itself and, most remarkably, used in intraspecific combat. Males can be up to twice as big as a female, and sport greatly enlarged claws and a larger keratinous facial shield that, while used in the females merely to protect their faces while burrowing, are defenses for males when they fight over territory, mates and resources, lifting each other up and tossing each other away as they tussle for dominance, with the losing combatant occasionally losing a few digits in the process.

These defenses, armor and burrowing abilities all reach their peak in the armored crustster (Carcinocricetus memeticus), a smaller and more placid relative of the pintlers that has evolved a more compact body and a single enlarged shield covering most of its back that, with its sharp-spined edges and smooth curved shape, makes it resistant to all but the most specialized of predators. Its powerful front claws are primarily used for digging, while its back, reinforced by a thick and sturdy spine with multiple interlocking vertebral processes, allow it great strength for its size, able to use it for leverage to wedge itself under large stones or into crevices, both to make itself inaccessible to enemies trying to fish it out of its hiding spots, as well as access small invertebrate prey taking shelter underneath.

[needleworm]

i refuse to turn my light above 10% even when taking photos of my art #troglofauna

[my-t4t-romance]

hello bug enjoyers. lookit this video

things I really liked:

dry sense of humor

correct opinions about the definition of "bug"

I get to wax nostalgic about walking with dinosaurs: chased by sea monsters

remarkably well-sourced

cool medieval music that makes me want to prance around while holding a sanctacaris like the lion king

really chill vibes overall

anyway bye I'm off to watch the one about troglofauna

[nyktomorphia]

I think rutherers are one of my favourite DF creatures, next to beak dogs and their relatives - they don't fit anywhere obvious in an earthly phylogenetic tree, but still feel extremely mundane and plausible (aside from not being very likely troglofauna, obviously)

Thinking of mammoths, seals, monitor lizards, and Cotylorhynchus

[transingthoseformers]

On the other hand, Cybertron's underground life must be BOOMING. This planet has to many more opportunities for troglofauna.

What's troglofauna? It's the collective word for all kinds of cave life, here's a little link for if you want to learn more of the words and more about earth cave life

Anyways, we see big big gashes in Cybertron's surface, with cliffs and caverns far more pronounced than on Earth. Remember, all of Earth's life and geological features are on the thin surface, but. I don't think Cybertron has a mantle, at all— just a very thick surface layer and an average sized core. We can actually see a fair amount of subterranean life in various shows, such as the insecticons in tfp being fairly proficient and with whole tropicam "lost world" style hollows in cyberverse.

[mixotrophics]

cities aren’t ecological dead zones. they can totally be Horrible(tm) for critters of all kinds incl. human beings. However they are not Dead per se, just New, and Weird, and Interesting, and they Have a lot going on and Can’t be written off because they’re huge and everywhere.

(Humans are troglofauna, cave critters, we live aboveground but we love caves. Thusly we make “homes” and they are mimetic of the Cave and our building edifices are mimetic of rocks and crags)

^ isle of Skye, rocky cliffs :)

Cities are rocks and crags and their layout (tall buildings, hard ground (concrete), hard surfaces in general, roads that are wind funnels, high amounts of energy inputs) is like a rocky cliffs area. As such, rocky cliffs animals live in cities. City pigeons are rock doves, they live on rocky islands usually. Peregrines, cliff-nesters, like to nest on tall things like church steeples, though theyre not so common as pigeons as pigeons were pets that were transported around the world on purpose. (Peregrines, where they live, love the Tall buildings, for example in Norwich upon the cathedral spire there’s a peregrine, she keeps nesting there, if you go near to it and see the Hawk and Owl ornithologists sitting there, they may have a camera looking at her babies!)

NORWICH CATHEDRAL PEREGRINE NEST FOOTAGE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6zavQvU9wc They have a livestream on their web site. May or may not be up becos they do not nest 24/7.

Norwich Cathedral Peregrine photographed by @ PeregrineSkip on twitter

Another from @ PeregrineSkip thats making me lose my mind because its a gull trying to yoink a pigeon from a peregrine. Its also great because all three of these critters have had their ranges go all funky from cities (rock roosting + domesticated pigeon, cliff nesting peregrine, opportunist scavenger gulls)

Because of a general Lack of water and plants and such, and the cars and engines and Bodies, and heated buildings, the meteorology gets messy. Cities are warmer and than surrounding areas. This is the Urban Heat Island effect. Some species may use these heat islands to overwinter.

Cities are also very disturbed. Nothing can rest, really. Gardens are pruned and dug. Lots are built up and broken down. we step on things. et cetera. BUT ALSO very undisturbed, because sometimes humans take a liking to a woodland or something in/next to their city, and protect it from damage incl. disturbance that would be good for it to endure, actually.

^^ for example this swag habitat (dunes) gets Devoured by plants like gorse & trees (and becomes a shrubland/forest) if it is protected too much, as regular trampling is what kills the gorse & gives the dune plants space to exist. Some places are encouraging pedestrian to walk on dunes, some places are grazing cattle, some (I’ve worked on a place that did this) get diggers and just rip up all the plants down to bare sand.

Anyways in cities: What you get is a very specific environment. Rocky, hot, disturbed and also not, full of people. Some critters love this. hence cities are full of rats, pigeons, similar. And in the case of rats, pigeons, bradford pear, etc, we move species to cities (on accident, on purpose). Ultimately, you get something weird:

Globally, city “biomes” in different locations (VASTLY far apart) are way more similar than comparable biomes of the same distance (in technical terms: lower β diversity). City biota tends to be native species that like city biome characteristics + imported nonnative species. and AND (at least in plants) the profile of “imported nonnative species” that cause cities to be more similar are European ones, carrying a reminder of colonial history. (note that cities in different geographical areas still do have distinct and unique organisms)

,, However, some argue that extirpating some/all of invasives from cities isn’t worthwhile firstly because getting rid of invasives is hard, but secondly because we NEED to interact with plants and animals and the like. We are part of nature and it is part of us. It is good for our mental and physical health, and access to green spaces is overwhelmingly unequal (due to placement in wealthy/white areas, needing to drive there, needing to pay for entry, Not Allowing Gardening bc of HOAs and other control measures, poor & marginalised folks simply not having the time due to working multiple jobs...) that getting rid of things that Can and Do find their niche in cities without systemic changes that fucking Do Something about unequal access to nature would b worsening it.

On the flip side because of fabricated consumerist desire, people upset ecosystems. For example a lot of invasives which Thrive in gardens (which were planted because they’re pretty and usually typical European garden plants) are getting into threatened longleaf pine savannah, and they can’t get in there if there are wildfires with decent frequency.

remember any effects that negatively impact ecologies are not inherent to humanity & are driven by ceos with names and addresses (directly and indirectly) :]c

Anyways cities have a lot to unpack and im not going in depth with anything ive brought up here really but I enjoy pondering them.

[ted-the-caver]

any troglofauna feeling exceptionally moist tonight?

[imeverywoman420]

troglofauna my new favorite word

[voidmoth-slut]

Things im considering hyperfixating on

Siphonophores

Troglofauna

Carbonaceous Chondrites

Microbial Populations of Clouds

[soapoey]

Happy womens day to troglofauna and all other girls inside scary holes

[aikoiya]

Arcane HC - The Scientific Study of Saving Zaun

There are quite a few studies that would be beneficial to encouraging the independence of Zaun.

Acoustic Hydroremediation = The purification of water through sound. Sound at a frequency of 1.5 MHz is able to kill off 99 percent of organisms present in water, but it takes 10 to 20 seconds of exposure to the sound waves for the water to be disinfected.

Speleology = The scientific study or exploration of caves. Including their make-up, structure, physical properties, history, life forms, & the processes by which they form (speleogenesis) & change over time (speleomorphology).

* Biospeleology = The study of organisms living in caves. Ranging from Troglobites, Trogloxene, & Troglophiles.

* Troglobites = Is an animal species, or population of a species, strictly bound to underground habitats, such as caves. Land-dwelling troglobites may be referred to as Troglofauna, while aquatic species may be called Stygofauna, although for these animals the term Stygobite is preferable.

* Trogloxene = Animals enter caves causally to escape predators or the warm sun in the summer.

* Troglophile = An animal that uses a cave for a part of its life cycle.

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Ecological Engineering =  The design of ecosystems for the mutual benefit of humans & nature.

* Speleo-Ecological Engineering = The design of subterranean ecosystems for the mutual benefit of humans & nature.

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Phytospeleology = The study of cave-dwelling plants.

Phytoremediation = The study of plants that clean contaminated soil, air, & water.

* Speleophytoremediation = The study of cave-dwelling plants that clean contaminated soil, air, & water. A branch of Phytospeleology.

Ethnobotany = The study of wild plants used for medicine, food, & tools.

* Speleo-Ethnobotany =  The study of wild cave-dwelling plants used for medicine, food, & tools. A branch of Phytospeleology.

Agronomy = The science & technology of producing & using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation.

* Speleo-Agronomy = The science & technology of producing & using cave-dwelling plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. A branch of Phytospeleology.

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Mycology = The study of fungi.

* Ethnomycology = The study of edible fungi.

* Speleomycology = The study of cave-dwelling fungi.

* Speleo-Ethnomycology = The study of edible, cave-dwelling fungi.

For a list of all the Flora & Fungi that I could think of to grow in Zaun, go to my Subterranean Flora & Fungi post.

Arcane Masterlist

[tribbetherium]

'In the endless darkness of Arcuterra's cavern system a brief, unseen battle breaks out, as a badger-sized blindmutt, the troglofaunal apex predator of the caves, quickly and wisely retreats from its unsuccessful hunt of a fungivorous biblarodon. Larger and more complex creatures have begun evolving in the cavern's darkness, as its spaces ever expand, and some of its upper chambers begin to open up to the surface due to natural erosion: allowing, for the first time in millions of years, for outside compounds to enter. Rainwater and floods wash down organic detritus from the surface, while trogloxenes--part-time cave-dwellers such as nocturnal ratbats, leave plenty of droppings that are carried down into the caverns: fueling the growth of fungi and bacteria that in turn feed the multitude of aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates that form the basic rungs of the cave food chain. The caverns have thus grown more lush, and more diverse, and as more available food and space becomes accessible, the larger the local fauna are able to grow.'

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An attempt at a "night-vision trail camera" kind of style and view. The daggoth troglofauna of the cavern system was a perfect subject, of course.

[tiktaaliker]

random but still very relevant mortally coiled lore

so pre-destruction era, a sort of underground city is constructed beneath/within a mountain. it's mostly for mining, but not exclusively- it's a self-sustaining community, with craftsmen, farmers, healers, etc. at some point there's a really major seismic event that causes the city entrance to completely collapse. the city is VERY deep underground, and it's believed that all known entrances are now entirely sealed off. The city and all of its inhabitants are considered lost for good.

Turns out that it really WAS just the entrances that collapsed- the city itself was designed to last, while the actual entrances (at least the sections closer to the surface) were all renovated mineshafts with less structural stability. so for generations on generation on generations the people who were in the underground city when the tunnels collapsed just sort of. figured out how to survive entirely underground. since they were ALREADY a pretty self-reliant civilization, theyre capable of not completely dying off without outside help. for food, there's some already-established subterran farms growing fungi, edible mosses, and even rhubarb-esque plants capable of growing without much (if any) light, along with access to underground rivers with cave-fish.

So, eventually, the people in this underground city excavate one of the collapsed tunnels and return to the surface. At this point, the residents have diverged WILDLY from the normal population- a significant portion are born with poor eyesight, with many being completely blind or even eyeless. you got mammids resembling moles/bats/mole-rats/etc, semi-transparent aquuids, reptids resembling olms, cave-beetle insectids, and the population overall ending up resembling typical troglofauna/stygofauna.

those on the surface and those from this underground civilization (commonly called the Lost Cities by the surfacers) start interaction again. theyre still pretty seperate, considering it is now physically challenging for a surfacer to live in the Lost Cities/a deepfolk to live on the surface, but there's at least interaction and between the two now.

this brings us to the modern era. It's now fairly common for surfacers to move into the Lost Cities, or for deepfolk to move out of the Cities, but it can be really difficult for either to adjust to swapping. Hence, the phenomenon of "Surface-scouting" by deepfolk; young native deepfolk who have spent their entire lives underground will sometimes accompany a non-native living in the Lost Cities to the surface, typically when the surfacer is visiting relatives or friends, in order to "properly" experience the surface. It's considered a very trendy thing to do, so seeing a deepfolk experiencing the surface world for the first time accompanied by a friendly surfacer is, while not an everyday occurrence, not unheard of.

why, exactly, is all this relevant?

it's relevant because Fane uses it as a cover for Null. It is VITAL for their little posse to lay as low as possible, and normally a fucked up lizard guy without eyes would stick out like a sore thumb. but no actually this is Normal and Fine see null is just a deepfolk from the Lost City and Fane is their surface-guide! and like sure Null is very much NOT a deepfolk and looks fucking weird even in that context but Fane is the living embodiment of telling lies so that's not even a problem. That paired with Bang ensuring that they're not traveling in any sort of predictable path makes the Nil gang almost completely hopeless in tracking them down unless they want to follow up on Literally Every Instance of surface tourism.

[silvokrent]

A description of each Pokémon can be found under the readmore.

Syntheon, as the name implies, is a Sound-type Eevee evolution. It evolves from Eevee when leveled up knowing a Sound-type move. The move Echoed Voice (which was previously unavailable to Eevee, outside of the Japan-exclusive Kiyo Eevee event) was added to Eevee’s learnset at level 17. Its name is a compound of synth and the -eon suffix.

Lambyte and its evolution, Hadrone, are based on the extinct hadrosaurs, a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs. Lambyte can be revived from the Crest Fossil. Its Sound-typing is based on the theory that the crest functioned as a resonance chamber, and allowed lambeosaurines to communicate with each other. Whereas Lambyte looks more like a standard hadrosaur (a single, curved crest), Hadrone’s crest branches off into multiple horns similar to Exploud. It also has an inflated gular sac that, when coupled with its crests, gives it an appearance vaguely reminiscent of bagpipes. Lambyte’s name is a portmanteau of Lambeosaurus and byte. Hadrone’s name is a portmanteau of Hadrosaurus and drone.

Ceebass and its evolution, Seabeam, are based on the seabass and the seabream, respectively. Since they exist to fulfill the niche of generic regional fish Pokémon, I never bothered to design them beyond that. Ceebass’ name is a pun of the eponymous fish, the seabass, along with the musical note C and the word bass. Seabeam’s name alludes to its namesake animal, the seabream, along with the beam used in musical notation.

Tinnitrah and its evolution, Cayemach, are based on cheetahs. Its Sound-typing is based on the concept of a Pokémon that runs so fast it breaks the sound barrier. Tinnitrah’s name is a portmanteau of tonitrus (the Latin word for thunder) and tinnitus, with the -ah ending being a callback to the spelling of cheetah. Cayemach’s name is based on the abbreviation KMH (kilometers per hour) and Mach.

Amprawna and its evolution, Malacoustraca, are based on lobsters. Their Ability (Thermal Touch, which causes them to switch from Water- to Fire-type either when hit by a Fire-type attack, or when burned) and their Sound-typing are based on the “scream” that lobsters make when they come into contact with boiling water. Outside of battle, both Pokémon default to Sound/Water, unless they’re inflicted with the burn status condition. Once the battle ends, or their burn status is cured, they revert back to Sound/Water. Amprawna’s name is a portmanteau of amp and prawn. Malacoustraca’s name is a portmanteau of malacostraca (a class of crustaceans) and acoustic.

Howlycan is based on a wolf. Conceptually, its design is based on the idea of howling winds (as in, a violent storm) and the fact that loud noises can trigger avalanches, hence it being Ice/Sound. Howlycan’s name is a portmanteau of howl and lycan.

Aedehz is based on a mosquito. Regrettably, I didn’t put much thought into its design beyond “I need a Sound/Bug Pokémon,” so there isn’t much to say about its appearance. The etymology of its name, however, is more developed. Aedehz comes from the word Aedes, a genus of mosquitoes, with the s replaced at the end by hz (a silent h followed by z, the voiced alveolar fricative). Not only is hz onomatopoeia of the mosquito’s shrill whine, but it’s also based on the abbreviation for Hertz (Hz).

Reqiem is based on a shark. Its Ghost-typing reflects its behavior of patrolling the wrecks of sunken ships. Reqiem’s name comes from requiem (a piece of ceremonial music for honoring the dead) and carcharhinid (requiem) sharks, which statistically encompass the species most likely to attack humans.

Savoid, in a departure from its pre-evo, Sableye, draws greater inspiration from subterranean animals. While its overall stature still bears a close resemblance to Sableye’s, Savoid no longer has gemstones encrusted in its torso and face. It now shares certain characteristics—like anophthalmia (blindness due to loss of eyes) and depigmentation—with troglofauna. The ear-like protrusions found on Sableye are now larger and more flared in its evolution, giving Savoid a bat-like appearance. Savoid’s name is a portmanteau of savage and void, and a pun of savoyed (curled and wrinkly in texture).

Hearcine is based on a goat. In addition to being one of the few Sound-types belonging to a three-stage evolutionary line, it also has a branching path. Which Pokémon it evolves into (either Shamois or Capyrne) depends on the evolutionary stone it’s exposed to—a Fire Stone or a Leaf Stone. Hearcine’s name is a pun of hear and hircine (having a goat-like quality).

Shamois and its evolution, Virdin, are based on goats and fauns/satyrs. Shamois’ horns are large and curled forward a bit like a bighorn sheep’s. The ends have openings for piping out sound. Virdin’s horns look more like reed pipes (similar to the design done by Golurk on Twitter). Shamois’ name is a portmanteau of shawm (a woodwind instrument), chamois (a species of goat-antelope), and shamrock. Virdin’s name is a portmanteau of verdant and din.

Capyrne and its evolution, Pyrouette, are based on goats and fauns/satyrs. Their overall designs (concept-wise) are markedly similar to those of their Grass-type counterparts, Shamois and Virdin, so I won’t waste much time elaborating. Capyrne’s name is a portmanteau of caper, caprine, and pyre. Pyrouette’s name is a portmanteau of pyre and pirouette.

Decibelle is based on a snail. In keeping with the theme of music, its shell bears a resemblance to a sleigh bell, while its body (when retracted into the shell) functions a bit like a clapper. Decibelle prefer to suspend themselves from tree branches by using mucus to adhere their shell to the bark. Decibelle’s name is a portmanteau of decibel and bell.

Sirenade, Sentinoal, and Caranoch are based on canaries. More specifically, they’re based on the canary in a coal mine. Each stage’s secondary typing (Flying, Poison, and Ghost) reflects a different stage of the canary’s health over the course of its life. Sirenade, the first stage in its evolutionary family, represents a canary that has yet to be caged and brought down into the mine. Sentinoal, the middle stage, represents the canary once it’s been brought down into the mine and exposed to carbon monoxide. The final stage, Caranoch, represents the canary once it has expired from carbon monoxide poisoning. Sirenade’s name is a portmanteau of Sirena (the genus that canaries belong to) and serenade. Sentinoal’s name is a portmanteau of sentinel (as in, a sentinel species) and coal. Caranoch’s name is a portmanteau of canary and coronach (the third round of a keening, a traditional Gaelic Celtic lament for the dead).

Roarqual and its evolution, Orcarina, are based on whales, since cetaceans are famous for their complex vocalizations. Roarqual’s name is a portmanteau of roar and rorqual (a group of baleen whales). Orcarina’s name is a portmanteau of orca and ocarina.

Detonite isn’t based on an animal, but rather, on a candy called pop rocks. Detonite is the final stage of the regional Geodude evolutionary family. I never really hammered out a concrete design for this Pokémon, but I like to think that its shell looks a bit like the bomb rocks found in the Pikmin games. Detonite’s name is a portmanteau of detonate and -ite, a suffix commonly used for naming minerals.

Vibron is based on various theropods, as well as the bulgasari, similar to its counterpart Aggron. The regional forms of Aron and Lairon that it evolves from were conceptualized as vessel flutes, due to the holes in their shells. Vibron takes the concept a step further by having horns with openings for emitting noise, and a tail with an opening visually similar to a mouthpiece. Much like a Whismur, the holes at both ends of Vibron’s body form a one-way airflow, allowing them to continuously let out sound. Vibron’s name is a portmanteau of vibration and -on, the suffix used for the other stages of its evolutionary line.

Boomslang is based on the eponymous snake. Unlike its real-world counterpart, the Pokémon has a rattle on its tail similar to snakes in the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus. In Afrikaans and Dutch, boomslang is a compound of boom “tree” and slang “snake.” The Pokémon’s name is a pun on the word boom (a loud, deep, resonant sound).

Syntherium and its evolution, Clariodon, are based on elephants. These two are pretty self-explanatory. Syntherium’s name is a portmanteau of synth and -theirum (a taxonomic suffix used for groups like the gomphothere, an extinct elephant relative). Clariodon is a portmanteau of clarion (a war trumpet) and -don (a taxonomic suffix used for groups like the mastodon, another extinct elephant relative).

Earwyrm is based on an amphiptere or a lindworm. Unfortunately, I didn’t put much thought into what its appearance would actually be. I generally picture it as a long-bodied serpent-like critter. Earwyrm’s name is a pun of earworm (a catchy, repetitive song that gets stuck in one’s head) and wyrm (a limbless or wingless dragon).

Fisticleff and its evolution, Cavomant, are based on a mantis shrimp. The concept for them comes from the mantis shrimp’s ability to generate shock waves when it strikes prey with its raptorial, claw-like appendages. The attack has an acceleration of 10,400 g at speeds of 23 m/s. Vapor-filled bubbles (known as cavitation bubbles) form from the acceleration, and when they collapse, they hit the prey with a force of 1,500 newtons. The high-speed punch was the basis for both Pokémon’s dual Fighting/Sound typing. Fisticleff’s name is a portmanteau of fisticuffs and clef. Cavomant’s name is a portmanteau of cavitation and mantis.

Sinth is based on a banshee (another Pokémon whose premise goes without saying, really). I’m aware that Misdreavus and Mismagius are already (arguably) based on banshees, but the redundancy doesn’t bother me that much. Look, if Nintendo can have twenty-two monkey Pokémon (twenty-three if we’re counting Darmanitan’s Galarian form) then I am fully justified in adding another banshee to the roster. Sinth’s name is pun of synth and sin.

Acoustick is based on an arachnid. This species evolves from the regional form of Joltik, hence the similarity of their names. Its “gimmick” is that it takes advantage of Sound-types being immune to other Sound-type Pokémon. Acoustick is a specialized predator that uses its Ability, Dampener, to neutralize or “absorb the sound” (in this case, the typing) of its opponent via its web. This allows Acoustick to bypass the typical immunity and use Sound-type moves against other Sound-types. Acoustick’s name is a pun of acoustic and tick.

Bassalisk and its evolution, Cockashreek, are based on the basilisk and the cockatrice, respectively. Both Pokémon have appearances similar to reptilian/draconic roosters. In mythology, the basilisk comes from a snake’s or toad’s egg hatched by a male chicken. For cockatrices, the reverse is true, with them being hatched from a chicken’s egg incubated by either a toad or a snake. As a nod to this, Bassalisk can only be hatched when the player has a male Cockashreek in their party. Without the evolved form, the counter for the Egg cycle won’t begin to tick down. Similarly, having a Pokémon with the Abilities Flame Body, Magma Armor, or Steam Engine in the party won’t work. Bassalisk is a pun of bass and basilisk. Cockashreek’s name is a portmanteau of cockatrice and shriek.