# Unusual creatures as science fiction inspiration



## alchemist

Need inspiration to develop an alien with some characteristic features? Look no further then nature. I’m sure some of you will know of instances where authors have done this.



The horseshoe crab








Like many molluscs, its blood is blue, due to the presence of copper rather than iron.

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Angora rabbit – tribbles!







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Some more oddities here…

http://unusual-things.blogspot.com/2009/06/9-strangest-and-unusual-animals-on.html




> Pacific hagfish - When under attack, it oozes a suffocating slime from its many pores that envelops its predator in a fatal mass of fibrous goo.


 
http://youtu.be/Bb2EOP3ohnE

(I've tried and I can't embed it, but it's worth looking at)
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> Blobfish are found at depths where the pressure is several dozens of times higher than at sea level. They adapted to this immense pressure by being primarily a gelatinous mass that is less dense than water. This keeps them buoyant floating just above the sea floor to eat or slurp up what gooey nutrition it can find without really needing to swim


 






Add some more!


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## Nik

*moRe: Unusual creatures as science fiction inspiration*

http://animania-daily.livejournal.com/18634.html
Amazonian Giant Centipede; Insect; South America & Jamaica
Size: The largest representative of the Centipedes, regularly reaching lengths of 26 cm; it can exceed 30 cm.

Lifespan: 3 or so years.

Habitat: It inhabits the northern and western regions of South America and the islands of Trinidad and Jamaica.

Food: It is carnivorous, feeding on lizards, frogs, birds, mice, and even bats.
Adaptations/Unique Facts: The centipede has modified claws called forcipules which curve around its head and can deliver venom into its prey. The extremely potent venom, containing acetylcholine, histamine, and serotonin, is toxic to humans and causes severe swelling, chills, fever, and weakness. However, although bites are painful, they are unlikely to be fatal.

Reproduction: Female S. gigantea centipedes exhibit parental care, guarding and tending their nests of eggs. Juveniles are very dark red or black in color, and very thin with large spherical red heads. They molt several times before reaching adult size.
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I had a super-sized version of this, one of David Attenborough's 'Life on the Undergrowth' beasties, in mind when I wrote 'Big Bad Bugs'...

Their characteristic patter of chitinous claws was quiet, but our ravaged city was silent. They made no attempt to stalk, just trotted from the cross-street then, sensing us, turned, attacked.

I squeezed the sprayer's valve. The narrow fan met the first Four. Big as a timber-wolf, it stopped in its own length, began to claw at its coarse 'fur'. I tracked onto the Six, then the second Four. Now all three were halted, tearing at themselves. I lowered the lance, wet the side-walk, shut off the jet. Sam stepped forwards and, squeezing the weed-wand's trigger, lit the spill's edge. It flared. She hopped back as blue flames engulfed the pool then spread to the thrashing Six. Its desperate convulsions passed the fire to both Fours.

Their coarse 'fur' burned well, revealing the grey, segmented skin and oddly jointed limbs beneath. Like fore-shortened caterpillars, there was a waist between each leg-pair's hardened body section. Our flash-fire could not breach that armour, but there was no need. The fire's sensory overload always threw Things into fatal shock. Silent as ever, they collapsed, twitched for a long minute, then stilled.
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When the EMP bombs and Things came through their Portals, where were you ? How did you fare ?? If you'd like to tell your tale, PM me...


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## Starbeast

*Alligator Gar Fish from North America*


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## RJM Corbet

The blobfish still wins so far! OHMG is that for real?


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## alchemist

RJM Corbet said:


> The blobfish still wins so far! OHMG is that for real?


 
Oh, yes. The world's "most miserable-looking marine animal."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pic...e-looking-marine-animal-facing-exinction.html

Imagine a race of intelligent garfish, though.


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## Metryq

I typically consider extra-terrestrials modeled after Earth creatures—or hybrids of Earth creatures, like a griffin—to be lazy writing, or a staple of space opera. On the other hand, it is the "opinion" of many scientists that it is _impossible_ for any extra-terrestrial creature to look even remotely like anything from Earth. This belief is backed up by "butterfly effect-like" statistics, or incredulity that life here exists at all if not for long-shot odds on something like the size of our Moon, or some other factor. (In all honesty, we just don't know.)

Earth's biosphere certainly draws from the same toolbox over and over again. Perhaps ETs may look _superficially_ like Earth creatures, as the same "engineering" may evolve to solve the same kinds of problems. Then again, maybe not. Some fancy that evolution produces "perfect" biological solutions after ages of refinement, but nothing could be further from the truth. The "engineer" who designed the human eye would have lost his job.

Anyway, one "superficial" terrestrial characteristic in an alien is the _Alien_ planting its eggs in a living host. (Some wasps do this.)


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## Starbeast

Giger's alien was originally called "Starbeast", this fictional creature is only what human imaginations can dream up, who knows what real dangerous animals are out there in space or thriving in another dimension.


Here's a spooky fish that camouflages itself.


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## RJM Corbet

Ugly crritter -- but the blob still rules


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## alchemist

Have a look at the hagfish video in the first post, folks. It's a marvel of science!


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## RJM Corbet

Just watched that! Missed your hagfish earlier. Weird, hey? Good thread Alchemist


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## alchemist

Thank you RJ 

I seem to have figured out how to embed video...





 
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The leafy seadragon - like the seahorse, the male carries the eggs. I'm pretty sure there were a race of seahorse-like aliens in one of Peter F Hamilton's tomes, who lived in zero-g.






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The aye aye, a lemur from Madagascar. It uses its middle finger to pull grubs from trees.







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Cavefish are blind but still sense movement in the water...
http://biologybiozine.com/articles/strange-biology/cavefish_dont_need_to_see.php



> Compared to surface-dwelling fish, cavefish have a larger mouth and jaws and a greater number of tastebuds. Cavefish also have larger and more neuromasts than surface-dwelling fish. Neuromasts are specialized nerve cells that are a part of a fish’s lateral line. In cavefish, these cells are more densely distributed on the fish’s head, particularly in the area where its eyes would be. Cavefish use these sensory organs to detect movement and vibration in their watery environment. The response to vibrations in the water, called vibration attraction behavior, or VAB, is an adaptive behavior. Vibration detection helps cavefish find sources of food in the water, which, without eyes, they would not be able to see. Recent cavefish research conducted by evolutionary biologists indicated that VAB and neuromast abundance coevolved to make up for the loss of vision in cavefish and help the blind fish find food in darkness.


 
Could we envisage aliens using senses other than the ones we have?

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Anglerfish, apart from being ugly, have two interesting characteristics...

http://biologybiozine.com/articles/strange-biology/a_light_in_the_depths.php








> The female deep sea anglerfish uses a bioluminescent “lure” that dangles over her head to attract prey. However, her lure isn’t just used to capture food to eat. Male anglerfish use the female’s light source to make sure she’s a member of the same species before he latches onto her as a lifelong mate.


 
But worse...


> Once it has found a mate, the male latches onto the female’s back, belly, or side by biting it with its own set of sharp teeth. It’s at this point that things get really interesting.Once the male bites the female, the male releases enzymes that cause its mouth to dissolve along with the female’s skin, which fuses the two together. Over time their bloodstream becomes one, and the male loses his eyes along with all other internal organs except for its testes. The female is now for all intents and purposes a hermaphrodite, meaning it can self-fertilize. A female may have more than six males on its body at one time. However, some females live their entire lives—which may span between 25 and 30 years—without ever encountering a male.


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## RJM Corbet

Yah. Phew! Truth stranger than fiction, as they say ...


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## paranoid marvin

Sea spider.... or face hugger?


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## Nik

A sea-life aquarium I visited had a HUGE spider-crab in a cylindrical tank. It looked like a model until it moved, at which point most of the kids in the room --And many of the adults-- would shriek and jump back...


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## J-Sun

Blobfish, meet your match:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua

I ironically came across this today and then here's this thread popping up for me to share the weirdness.


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## Starbeast

One of my favorite weird fish​


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## alchemist

Starbeast said:


> One of my favorite weird fish​


 
That is certainly spooky...



J-Sun said:


> Blobfish, meet your match:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua
> 
> I ironically came across this today and then here's this thread popping up for me to share the weirdness.


 
...and that is disgusting. Very, very disgusting.


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## Nik

Truly, the 'Tongue Louse' makes you realise that the Universe probably *is* stranger than we can imagine...


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## skeptical

If I were designing a fictional creature for SF, I would begin with the alien environment, and then work from that to decide what weird adaptations the beast would have.

However, working from nature, how about the colossal squid.
http://www.squid-world.com/colossal-squid.html

This is the world's largest squid, significantly bigger than that wimp called the giant squid.  We have one here in NZ, in our national museum, that weighs almost half a ton.  They grow to 35 feet long. They have the largest eyes on any animal on Earth.  Their suckers have sharp hooks attached.   They do not just suck on, but dig their hooks in at the same time.  If the victim survives, it will have deep scars for life.  Also one of the very few squid with a penis - a rather big one.


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## Ursa major

We mustn't forget old Barry: http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/49958-barry-the-new-cryptid-worm.html.


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## RJM Corbet

skeptical said:


> If I were designing a fictional creature for SF, I would begin with the alien environment, and then work from that to decide what weird adaptations the beast would have.
> 
> However, working from nature, how about the colossal squid.
> http://www.squid-world.com/colossal-squid.html



All the same, one finds it hard to be awed by something that really belongs on a plate, in batter, with chips and peas and carrots?


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## Ursa major

I don't think you'd find Barry on many plates, with or without chips and peas.


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## RJM Corbet

Ursa major said:


> I don't think you'd find Barry on many plates, with or without chips and peas.



No. Barry definitely belongs as far away from me as possible


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## Ursa major

He is, or was, in Cornwall.

(His relations may be closer, as suggested in the article to which I linked from that thread).

*shivers*


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## J Riff

Ghad, remind me to move to a sane planet someday.
_Cadborosaurus_ in Alaska was on the news today, and there's a special
coming out on TV. Not very clear footage, but if that isn't a family of sea monsters I'm a monkey's uncle.


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## Starbeast

Sea Lamprey​


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## BookStop

Little water bears remind me of something from sf that I've seen, but I just can't place the little guy. Cute though!


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