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For those of you who have only found my page recently, or haven't kept up with me for a while, Valhalla was a speculative alien biology project I've been working on, off and on, for almost 15 years. Unlike my other major speculative project, The Neozoic, it never really amounted to much aside from a bunch of false starts, but I'm planning to change that.
To start with, I'll be going through Valhalla's creatures family by family, starting with the most "basal" group, the Peltatans. Peltatans are a widespread but not very diverse group of soft-bodied, shelled "invertebrates" with eight limbs and bilateral symmetry. While highly diverse in the past, they are now a relict group.
Living-stones are members of the class Peltata, which are united by the presence of a dome-like carapace covering their soft, eight-legged body, and a chewing mouth mounted on a long retractable proboscis. In many ways the living-stones are the most archetypal members of this clade, and they are found in virtually all freshwater and saltwater habitats of Valhalla. They range in size from as small as a marble to as large as a basketball, and most of them are herbivores feeding on aquatic vegetation.
Living-stones reproduce by laying eggs, and these are released into the water to be fertilized, after which they hatch into planktonic larvae and settle onto the riverbed to mature.
Notable living-stone species include the following:
Crab-turtle (Emydocancer potamorycteris)
One of the largest species of living-stone, growing up to a foot in length the crab-turtle is named for its armored, turtle-like carapace and the pincer-like grippers on its forelimbs, which give it the vague appearance of a crab in the shell of a turtle. Unlike a crab, however, it does not have a jointed exoskeleton supporting its entire body--like all living-stones its body is soft and supported by its carapace alone. It is omnivorous, digging through debris on the bottom of rivers and ponds in search of vegetation and smaller "invertebrates".
Splendid living-stone (Balduromys splendens)
Another one of the larger living-stones, at about six inches long, the splendid living-stone prefers the cold seas near Valhalla's poles. Its most distinguishing feature is its bright red and blue carapace, which is a warning to predators that it is poisonous. It acquires this poison from the marine plunts it eats, many of which are poisonous themselves, and sequesters them in its flesh. Unlike other living-stones, it only lays small numbers of eggs, which are left on rocks or leaves. The eggs are jus as poisonous as the splendid living-stone itself, and are colored red.
Torrent living-stone (Cataractophilis platysternus)
The torrent living-stone has a much more flattened body than its relatives, almost disc-shaped, allowing it to cling to wet rocks in raging rapids and waterfalls. Its clawed feet give it a firm grip on its slippery home, where it may stay for days feeding on the few low-growing plunts that occupy this treacherous habitat. Because of the convex shape of their undersides, torrent living-stones create a suction effect with their bodies, making it very difficult for predators to pry them loose. For additional protection, they are colored dull gray and have lumpy, irregular carapaces that allow them to mimic rocks.
Hibernating living-stone (Somnobaldur durabilis)
Because Valhalla is a cold, dry world with scarce liquid water, even aquatic life has had to evolve to cope with times of drought. The hibernating living-stone is one of the champions of this, able to survive underground in a torpid state for up to ten Earth years. When there is sufficient liquid water, they awaken and dig themselves out of their underground dens, resuming their normal lives. Like most living-stones they are herbivores that rely on their shells to deter predators, and they can dig underground at short notice to hide if they feel threatened.
Living-stones reproduce by laying eggs, and these are released into the water to be fertilized, after which they hatch into planktonic larvae and settle onto the riverbed to mature.
Notable living-stone species include the following:
Crab-turtle (Emydocancer potamorycteris)
One of the largest species of living-stone, growing up to a foot in length the crab-turtle is named for its armored, turtle-like carapace and the pincer-like grippers on its forelimbs, which give it the vague appearance of a crab in the shell of a turtle. Unlike a crab, however, it does not have a jointed exoskeleton supporting its entire body--like all living-stones its body is soft and supported by its carapace alone. It is omnivorous, digging through debris on the bottom of rivers and ponds in search of vegetation and smaller "invertebrates".
Splendid living-stone (Balduromys splendens)
Another one of the larger living-stones, at about six inches long, the splendid living-stone prefers the cold seas near Valhalla's poles. Its most distinguishing feature is its bright red and blue carapace, which is a warning to predators that it is poisonous. It acquires this poison from the marine plunts it eats, many of which are poisonous themselves, and sequesters them in its flesh. Unlike other living-stones, it only lays small numbers of eggs, which are left on rocks or leaves. The eggs are jus as poisonous as the splendid living-stone itself, and are colored red.
Torrent living-stone (Cataractophilis platysternus)
The torrent living-stone has a much more flattened body than its relatives, almost disc-shaped, allowing it to cling to wet rocks in raging rapids and waterfalls. Its clawed feet give it a firm grip on its slippery home, where it may stay for days feeding on the few low-growing plunts that occupy this treacherous habitat. Because of the convex shape of their undersides, torrent living-stones create a suction effect with their bodies, making it very difficult for predators to pry them loose. For additional protection, they are colored dull gray and have lumpy, irregular carapaces that allow them to mimic rocks.
Hibernating living-stone (Somnobaldur durabilis)
Because Valhalla is a cold, dry world with scarce liquid water, even aquatic life has had to evolve to cope with times of drought. The hibernating living-stone is one of the champions of this, able to survive underground in a torpid state for up to ten Earth years. When there is sufficient liquid water, they awaken and dig themselves out of their underground dens, resuming their normal lives. Like most living-stones they are herbivores that rely on their shells to deter predators, and they can dig underground at short notice to hide if they feel threatened.
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