The Meadows
Over many shallow sandy-bottomed expanses of sea floor, especially in the tropics, there are vast meadows of marine plants. Some portion of this growth is formed by red and brown algae that have recently adapted to use C4 photosynthesis, but the majority of these meadows are formed out of true plants, the seaghum.
Seaghum (Maresorghus sp) is a marine herbaceous plant that greatly resembles knotty seagrass, being descended from C4 photosynthesising land plants of an earlier age. These plants form dense carpets of weedy growth which can extend for many kilometres. It provides shelter and food for a wide range of marine invertebrates and keeps the sea-floor very fertile.
Seaghum (Maresorghus sp) is a marine herbaceous plant that greatly resembles knotty seagrass, being descended from C4 photosynthesising land plants of an earlier age. These plants form dense carpets of weedy growth which can extend for many kilometres. It provides shelter and food for a wide range of marine invertebrates and keeps the sea-floor very fertile.
The sandy substrates of the seaghum meadows are a fertile, dynamic environment, with its own array of organisms. One such creature is the Bed-Lozenge (Fossonux sp), a descendant of testate amoebas, which reaches the size of a shelled almond. These giant unicellular creatures have an oblong shape, and are covered in large bristly cilia which serve to propel them through the substrate. They usually consume any edible particles including dead plankton, microorganisms, larvae and carrion.
Gastrotees (Manatolimax gigantea) are the most prominent creatures of the seaghum meadows, being enormous herbivorous slugfish some 3.5 meters long. They move about in herds of up to 10, constantly cropping and chewing up seaghum and algae with their muscular radulas, which are mounted upon the end of a long roving proboscis. Gastrotees move about relatively slowly, but if they are attacked by a large predator, they release a cloud of noxious purple ink to confuse the attacker. In the summer, gastrotees mate en masse, laying large stringy clusters of eggs that they attach to thick growths of seaghum. The young are about finger-length when they hatch, and fully independent.
Grasser Slugfish (genus Cyprinoradula) are fair-sized slugfish that reach up to 70 centimeter's long. They are very common in the seaghum meadows, being devoted herbivores, cropping and chewing growth with their large muscular radulas. Grassers can be found in shoals of up to 15, methodically working their way over the meadows, selectively chewing off and eating choice pieces of seaghum and algae.
Weed Eagles (Limacaves major) are a large kind of free-swimming gastropod related to both slugfish and the crane-necked phantom. Reaching about 60 centimeters across, they are active hunters, with large horny jaws and highly acute vision. They will “fly” and hawk, above and amongst the seaghum in order to flush out prey, which includes small asterotheres, slugfish, crustaceans and other kinds of free-swimming invertebrate.
Not all inhabitants of this period vary greatly from their ancestors; the Mail-slab (Hoplolimax squamodermus) still greatly resembles its distant ancestor, a kind of herbivorous sea snail. A fair sized animal, it reaches 60 centimetres long, and in order to facilitate movement, it has mostly foregone a full shell, wearing a chainmail like coat of calcareous scales instead. It is exceedingly common in the seaghum meadows, and indeed seaghum is pretty much all it eats. Being able to crawl fairly quickly in comparison to typical snails, when attacked it will retract its more vulnerable parts under the scaly, mail like coating on the upper part of its body.
Burrowing Slorms (genus Limacovermis) are one of the most typical members of its group, a worm-shaped, muscular kind of mollusc, no longer than 25 centimeters, which moves among the substrate in search of prey. They burrow via agitating and wriggling their bodies, and pushing through with their heads. It has a large, muscular radula with which it seizes and chews up its prey, which is usually other burrowing organisms such as crustaceans, worms, and each-other.
Eelorms are large predatory worms related distantly to fwirms, and are relatively common ambush predators, especially in the seaghum meadows. One member of this group is the Banded Eelorm (Annelanguilla ferox), which reaches up to 2 meters long. These predators lurk hidden in the weedy growths of seaghum and algae, ambushing various free-swimming marine invertebrates such as slugfish and crustaceans. Its wicked seizing mouthparts are mounted on the end of a long muscular proboscis; prey is usually killed outright with the first strike.
Hidden in the tangled growth of the seaghum meadows, the Weedsleeper (Platyvermis atrox) is a fair sized, voracious ambush predator reaching about 70 centimetres long. Squat and armoured, it sits in wait for swimming prey to happen past its hiding spot, lurching forward to seize them, crocodile-like, in its massive mouthparts. Weedsleepers bear mottled colour patters of brown and green that allow them to blend into the beds of seaghum perfectly. Despite appearances, it is actually descended from polychaete worms, though it has lots its serpentine shape entirely.
Pluckmaw (Acutognathosis rapax) are one of the more specialized kinds of trapmaw, this agnathan reaches about 1.8 meters long, and has a shape much like a large wrasse, and indeed fills a similar niche. It cruises above the seaghum, hunting for prey that may be hiding, such as crustaceans, large molluscs, worms or asterotheres. Its face is long and its mouth acute, allowing it to pluck and seize prey out from among the seaghum.
Weedpokers (Probognathus sp) are a kind of predatory agnathan that share an ancestor with the trapmaws, though this species bears a mouth at the end of a long, snout-like proboscis. It will forage actively among the growths of seaghum, pushing its snout in amongst the weed, searching for small, meaty invertebrates that may be hiding there. It is also able to push the end of its snout into the substrate and root about, in search of burrowing organisms such as slorms. Weedpokers usually measure no more than 40 centimeters long, with their proboscis fully extended.
The Orange Cramph (Amphicancropsis repens) is a fair sized species, reaching up to 25 centimeters across. Unpretentious, it crawls among the seaghum in search of food, which can vary from carrion, to slow moving crustaceans and molluscs, it will even feed by chewing on the nutritious bases of seaghum stems. As with other cramphs (carcinized Amphipods), they have a broad armored carapace and 2 pairs of pincer-like claws with which they manipulate food, and occasionally defend themselves.
Starpike (Asteroesox sp) are a large kind of asterothere that are most common in the seaghum meadows, but are also found in smaller numbers around the outskirts of reefs. Starpike reach 90 centimetres long, and differ from other asterotheres in having large seizing pincers for catching prey, these are formed from the pedicellariae of their starfish ancestors. Though they are able to chase prey for some distance, they prefer to catch prey from ambush, often hiding amongst particularly dense growths of seaghum.
The Weedy Astericthys (Astericthys compressa) is a free-swimming echinoderm about 30 centimeters long, adept at foraging for small prey among the seaghum plants. Having a robust, hydrodynamic shape, its front pair of arms form a moustache-like snout, lined with gripping tube feet, being its main organ for locating and catching prey. Its most frequent prey are small slorms, Bed-lozenges, small crustaceans, and the larvae of other invertebrates such as slugfish.