Post by timetraveler22 on Jun 1, 2016 14:49:42 GMT
I believe anyone who is interested in Thrive is also interested in speculative evolution. What is "speculative evolution" you ask? Well, it is to think of what animals and other creatures will evolve into using guesstimations or just plain creativity. Posting your ideas on speculative evolution and discussing other ideas will give great insight on what we'd personally think of the future and help us as a community. Not only by sharing ideas, but will be a good look at what Thrive can do as a whole to improve on the ideas of evolution that Spore probably never got to do.
So, everyone by now knows about my obsession with mudskippers. And on that note, I'll give a couple ideas that would become of the curious little fish if given the best chance of survival. I've come up with a few results, but I'll post my two most interesting ones.
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So the one up top is a general body plan of a mudskipper 5-10 million years in the future. They've totally lost their pelvic, and anal fin. And their 2nd dorsal & caudal fin is undergoing recession. The first dorsal fin is either growing or receding depending on how much use it is considering its purpose to communicate. Their pectoral fin is now totally independently movable apart from each other, allowing more movement. The pectoral fin has also adapted to a pretty close second to an entire limb, making the animal a "biped". The tips of the mudskippers fins have become claw joints and the rest of the fin has become a makeshift forearm. The posture has become tripedal using the tail for balance. The the eyes are also sunk back into the skull, but the animal can still blink. In general, the mudskipper has evolved an almost complete brackish analog for most frogs in the Rana genus.
The below figure shows an arboreal species found between 1-4 million years in the future. This is when mudskippers were experimenting in body plans and behaviors for a successful transition. This species was a glider. instead of fin regression, fins grew considerably large for being terrestrial. Especially its pelvic and pectoral fins. The animal used it's cup-shaped pelvic fins to stick onto the trunks of trees. While the hooks on the pectorals were used as support. The overall body plan went the way of many riverine fish that use a flat aerodynamic body to decrease drag in the current. But instead of current, this mudskipper reduced it's drag in the air. It's pelvic fin was shaped like that of a bird's wing naturally, even today's species. this helped the little fish produce lift. And the pectoral fins were also wing-like to produce more surface area. To steer, the tail and anal fins were like rudders to guide the little fish to his desired location. And the colorful dorsalfins were to scare off any potential predator. They would be constantly seen above your head as they picked crane flies and mosquitos out of the air. The males also would have aggressive fights in mid-air to protect their territory.
So, everyone by now knows about my obsession with mudskippers. And on that note, I'll give a couple ideas that would become of the curious little fish if given the best chance of survival. I've come up with a few results, but I'll post my two most interesting ones.
So the one up top is a general body plan of a mudskipper 5-10 million years in the future. They've totally lost their pelvic, and anal fin. And their 2nd dorsal & caudal fin is undergoing recession. The first dorsal fin is either growing or receding depending on how much use it is considering its purpose to communicate. Their pectoral fin is now totally independently movable apart from each other, allowing more movement. The pectoral fin has also adapted to a pretty close second to an entire limb, making the animal a "biped". The tips of the mudskippers fins have become claw joints and the rest of the fin has become a makeshift forearm. The posture has become tripedal using the tail for balance. The the eyes are also sunk back into the skull, but the animal can still blink. In general, the mudskipper has evolved an almost complete brackish analog for most frogs in the Rana genus.
The below figure shows an arboreal species found between 1-4 million years in the future. This is when mudskippers were experimenting in body plans and behaviors for a successful transition. This species was a glider. instead of fin regression, fins grew considerably large for being terrestrial. Especially its pelvic and pectoral fins. The animal used it's cup-shaped pelvic fins to stick onto the trunks of trees. While the hooks on the pectorals were used as support. The overall body plan went the way of many riverine fish that use a flat aerodynamic body to decrease drag in the current. But instead of current, this mudskipper reduced it's drag in the air. It's pelvic fin was shaped like that of a bird's wing naturally, even today's species. this helped the little fish produce lift. And the pectoral fins were also wing-like to produce more surface area. To steer, the tail and anal fins were like rudders to guide the little fish to his desired location. And the colorful dorsalfins were to scare off any potential predator. They would be constantly seen above your head as they picked crane flies and mosquitos out of the air. The males also would have aggressive fights in mid-air to protect their territory.
