They say biodiversity is valuable. I leave the brainstorming for gracile alien’s ancestors to test the bauplan on some of its more distant relatives. These are at least a separate phylum, but still related to the 4-symmetrical ancestor. The upper one has no analog in Earth’s fauna. It’s a tiny sphere whose four ciliate bands branched fern-like for greater collection area. These are purposed less for swimming and more for collecting food and carrying it along the grooves to the mouth. It has a main gut and narrow groove-associated channels. It’s also probably tiny, smaller than a fingernail, and tumbles about in the water with its mouth end backwards.Then there’s a four-tentacle, four-mouth form that has ampules instead of channels and a skeletal spike. And also a predatory form with somewhat broken symmetry and a highly advanced “polyp” with feathery tentacles. I wonder whether any these are edible for the gracile alien.2009
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