#subnautica below zero chelicerate leviathan

[drowned-cypress]

I'm not a biologist either but I love this train of thought. I agree with you about the stalkers and cryptosuchus, and probably the bone sharks. However, I think the chelicerates are closer to shrimp than anything else, making them fancy crustaceans, or evolved from something like a crustacean, which would explain the horizontal tails without them having a terrestrial ancestor.

With sea dragons it's kind of hard to tell what their ancestry is because they have tentacles like cephalopods, and we have no examples of terrestrial cephalopods. Their upper body and arms definitely look like they belong to a vertebrate that evolved on land, but it's also possible that the sea dragon got its arms from a common ancestor with the sea monkey, and didn't have a terrestrial ancestor at all (note the sea monkey's vertical, eel like tail.) Actually, it doesn't make sense to me that they would have evolved on land, because I'm having a hard time picturing an environment in which an animal would evolve tentacles for locomotion without losing their arms as well, which are less adaptive for swimming.

The lava lizards are actually a good example of what I'm talking about. They very clearly have vestigial hind legs, which means they probably evolved on land at some point. But while they were losing their hind legs, their forelegs turned into clawed flippers. There's almost nothing leg-like left of their forelimbs. Why didn't that happen to the sea dragons, who have managed to not only lose any leg-like vestiges in their hindquarters, but also evolve tentacles? Like, they don't even have opposable thumbs to make retaining their arms an adaptive trait.

(Oh speaking of lava lizards, how the heck do they breathe? They don't have gills. They live way too far underwater to be able to surface for air, and they don't have nostrils. Do they have gills hidden in their throats or something? Like, what's going on there. I have the same question about the sea dragon and the sea emperor to some extent too, it's just that lava lizards are clearly reptiles with more familiar biology, so it's a little weirder.)

There's a couple more species I can think of that probably have terrestrial ancestors in addition to the ones mentioned: the glow whale and the frozen leviathan.

The thing is though, the planet is an ocean planet. It has very few landmasses for terrestrial animals to evolve on. There is like, one frozen continent at what looks like the south pole in the cutscene at the end of subnautica, which may or may not be the same as the frozen landmass you see in the cutscene at the beginning of Below Zero and you get to explore some of ingame. Did everything evolve in such a frozen environment? If not, either the planet used to be warmer so that continent wasn't frozen solid, or there was a period of time when the planet didn't have nearly as much water. The thing is, if the planet was warmer, that would raise the water level due to ice melting. There's also very few ways a planet can gain water. The one way I can think of off the top of my head is bombardment with comets. That could easily cause a global catastrophe. How the heck do they have so many animals with terrestrial ancestry? Are there landmasses hiding on the other side of the planet? Did they evolve as small species on warmer islands and get bigger in the water? I have so many questions.

Anyway, I have no clue what's going on with this planet.

Subnautica and Evolution

So I was bored a few nights ago and looking up stuff about fish (as you do) when I came across an interesting little tidbit about oceanic mammal tails versus fish tails.

As far as I know, all fish tails have a vertical orientation and swing left to right. However oceanic mammals with tail fins are horizontal and swing up and down. This is because when mammals originally moved to land, they developed spines that would support the up-and-down movement of their legs which were now directly underneath them. When some species moved back to the water, they kept this spine shape which resulted in tail fins that also moved up and down.

So what does this have to do with Subnautica? Well if you take a look at Stalkers, you'll notice they have a distinctly dolphin-like tail fin. And knowing that Snow Stalkers exist via Below Zero, it's not an unreasonable assumption to assume that Snow Stalkers are actually closer to whatever evolutionary ancestor the two split off from.

It seems to me that at one point, this ancestor moved on to land the same as Earth's mammalian ancestors did. It developed legs and the ability to breath above water. From there the evolutionary path diverged with some remnants of the species remaining on land and others going back to the water just like Earth's whales did; re-adapting to the oceans, possibly even with the need to breathe air which might explain the Stalkers being found in relatively low depth environments.

This got me curious and I started looking at some other Subnautica creatures.

Bone Sharks -- despite their name -- also carry a horizontal tail fin, unlike Earth's sharks and their vertical fins. However, their tails end in a much less "fin-like" standard appearance. It's more spiked then anything. Interestingly as well, they seem to have a set of gills directly behind their eyes as well as a set of nostrils or nostril-like indentations in front of their eyes.

What this suggests to me -- someone who is very much not a biologist -- is that Bone Sharks' ancestors also may have once lived on land, though much longer ago than Stalkers did. I think they are much further along in their evolution line, re-adapting to the water with the ability to breathe underwater. I think the horizontal tail fin and indentations in the skull are vestigial -- left over remnants from a time long past when they once walked along the ground.

The other three creatures I think once had a land-locked ancestor are: Chelicerate, Cryptosuchus, and Sea Dragon Leviathans.

Celicerates for similar reasons to the Bone Sharks, as it moves its tail in a mainly horizontal manner to move around.

Cryptosuchus and Sea Dragons for their functional limbs that, on Earth, are only found on land-based animals. Though I do think Cryptosuchus' ancestors were more like alligators then any mammal or mammal-like animal. And I don't think they were ever fully land-locked. It's more likely to me that they, at one point, lived a semi-aquatic lifestyle before transitioning back to a fully aquatic one.

Do I know anything about biology? No. Do I desperately want a biologist to tell me I'm stupid and all the ways I'm wrong? Yes! Oh my stars yes please! Let's talk about this, I want to know so bad

Anyway, thank you for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

unless you just want to talk about how scary the game is and how you like to go around killing all the creatures to make you feel safe in which case don't talk to me

[tokay-blog]

Molting shrimp x)

[velikaja]

different subnautica stuff, including robin, al-an and my silly guy

ah yes apparently me and my friend developed a strange addiction to leviathans

V if you're reading this it's us

[rolex-kaard]

drew all the (living) (regular) bz leviathans

[peeperbelowzero]

He stand

[randygrim]

Chelicerate study

[sewerpalette]

Thinking about if all subnautica leviathans were humans in college for a little art exercise.

Please I can’t be the only one: Void chelicerate, ghost and shadow HAVE GOT to be alt/emo kids, and I BET YOU they would have actually named themselves void, ghost and shadow like little edgelords.

Also sea trader is a camping enthusiast.

[ms-scarletwings]

Replaying Below Zero and chuckling to myself recalling old memories

[bookworm-faolanne]

MDZS x Subnautica Fusion/Crossover Idea

So while I have been on my current MDZS fic hyperfixation, I have fallen into a bit of a subnautica rabbit hole. After a while, a plunny had started to poke its head around the corners carrying an idea where the planet MDZS is on is 4546B- although the location is a bit skewed- it happens on the other side of the planet and many centuries later. In this verse, cultivation had developed as a response to the kharaa bacterium but has since diverged from that.

Of course the terrain would be much more watery and oceanic in order to accommodate that, but setting MDZS in the future of 4546B would allow for interesting or other possible world-building changes- like for example, Baoshan Sanren had not holed herself up at the top of a mountain (which everyone will assume that happened), but instead she is a Sea Emperor leviathan (or similar equivalent for the region) who has cultivated a human form and therefore does not reside on a mountaintop somewhere, but in the depths of the ocean.

There would be other things to finagle of course, but two things that have stuck themselves into the plunny is that at least the cultivation world don't realize is that humanity is not originally from 4546B (it has been totally forgotten) and to them, this is functionally earth; the other is that the sects (at least the great/major ones) have either been descended from or had a really close ties of some kind to at least one species of leviathan that they have entirely forgotten about.

[stuckon4546b]

I present

Stinky

Assface

Dickhead

I seem to have a theme

[thebeetleguy]

Quick warning: there are images of arachnids towards the end of this post.

Something about Subnautica’s biology has me really really normal about it as of late. In anticipation for the release of Subnautica 2 I’ve decided I’ll dedicate a portion of my time every day to studying the physical anatomy of Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero’s more interesting fauna because they’re interesting and weird!!!!!! Love them.

My opening thoughts are the Chelicerate. It’s classified as a Leviathan-Class creature in Sector Zero of 4546B. There are two types of Chelicerate. The main one you meet is the red one pictured above. Though, if you go beyond the natural limits of the map, you will encounter the Void Chelicerate at the edge of the sector.

General assumption and geographical analysis leads one to the conclusion that Sector Zero of 4546B and the main zone we play in in the original Subnautica game are separated by a large expanse of ecologically dead waters. The only two creatures we know to be capable of surviving in these waters are Void Chelicerates and adult Ghost Leviathans, a species from the prior game that I’ll discuss at a later date.

Now, the Chelicerate is a large predator, albeit on the smaller scale for Leviathan-Class fauna, that uses its four mandibles to trap prey and keep it from escaping. The game’s official databank entry states the following:

“ These large mandibles of the chelicerate are composed of a bony material that crushes and saws through bones and muscle with ease. The mandibles open up while the backward facing teeth dig into flesh and prevent easy escape. The prey is pulled towards the chelicerate's mouth and devoured.”

As we can see, the chelicerate hunts aggressively with a “trap and catch” method of hunting we see in real-world marine fauna like the monkfish, which uses it’s mouth to trap and hold prey. This hunting method is brutally effective when scaled up to a creature the size of a chelicerate, especially considering their lightweight, maneuverable build. This also allows the chelicerate to grasp objects, like Robin’s submersible vehicles, and damage them.

Rather uniquely on 4546B, the chelicerate sports a segmented exoskeleten with flexible plates that allow it to maneuver and move with agility through the water while also protecting it from the pressure of 4546B’s gravity. Very cool!

> “The chelicerate’s body is made of a thick segmented exoskeleton. The exoskeleton grows in flexible overlapping plates. This provides protection from the atmospheric pressure while giving the chelicerate the maneuverability to easily pursue prey.”

I think the thing I liked most about the chelicerate when viewing its in-game model and animations was that it moved like a whale, with horizontal tail fins that pushed it through the water with an up and down movement of its tail rather than a side-to-side movement we’d see in modern fish and shark species. This really feels right for them especially considering the way the plates of the exoskeleton overlap and lay on each other which would (reasonable assumption) make much side-to-side movement restricted and awkward to pull off.

Subnautica is infamously good at drawing inspiration from real-world animals and applying design aspects of those animals to these alien creatures in a way that feels familiar but unique and fascinating in its’ own way. The chelicerate is no exception. Named after the subphylum “chelicerata” they, fittingly, resemble species under the chelicerata subphylum like horseshoe crabs or eurypterid. Their four-pronged mandible-jaws remind me of the camel spider, as well. See here:

As we can see the solifugae also have these four, claw-like mandible structures. Fascinating!

The chelicerate seems like a fusion between the eurypterid and camel spider if it was dunked underwater for a few million years and turned big and red. I really love this creature and I think about it often.

This was my attempt at wordvomit analysis of the chelicerate… yay.

[bipolar-sad-and-ready-to-cry]

I'm not sure which subnautica creature bloody is based on, but since you mentioned Ruin keeps the baby’s warm & is a land Creature (& the au takes place in sector zero [the main story location of below zero]) i'm gonna take a shot in the dark & guess ruin is based on a Stalker.

as for KC.. I have no clue which creature he could be based on

-someone who loves subnautica.

Ok so they are all hybrids so there is a lot of things in them including humans and earth creatures but there is main parts of DNA in them now let me see if I can remember the names of half these creatures (I haven’t played BZ yet only Subnautica)

So Bloodmoon’s main species are chelicerate, human, biter and bleeder

Ruin’s main species is snow stalker, human, thermal lily and perhaps the ever so small amount of ahem architect

KC is mostly shadow leviathan and human he has no clue what else is mainly there so he just calls himself a shadow leviathan

I will be trying to draw up designs of them all

Also I love subnautica too! I’ve just steered myself away from the temptation of seeing the below zero lore so I can go into it blind haha hopefully I can play it soon

[tokay-blog]

3 - Parasite I hate those shadow leviathans that only get in the way in cramped caves x) With a mouth like that, the role of parasite suits them better. Chelicerates in the dead zone swim around with rotting wounds, so why not add a reason for that? By secreting acid or gastric juice, the parasite calmly dissolves the shell of these shrimp and gets to the meat, which doesn't heal well

[raustenacious]

Subnautica itself is Home, my base under the biggest mushroom in the mushroom forest, nestled between it's roots, my two cyclops Nausicäa and Sexy B. East, my beloved seamoth and cuddle fish. My stalkers, that's home, I am the King there, I didn't take the rocket home. It lays unfinished. My wife died yes, but I don't feel lonely

But Subnautica below zero? I feel lonely, I just met Al-an and found the Koppa mining base. And I know it's probably weird but I'd like to make him a bed in my base too. I'm nowhere near finding him a body but I think it'd feel less lonely. I want to talk to him all the time. I'd love it if I was able to place hanging pots and plants but realized there is no flora that would support that. Or add many more posters. I am enjoying all the news and databank entries talking about the Aurora and learning about the Mercury II's survivors makes me feel less alone, but it's a lonely planet. The chelicerate is scary as hell, I miss my reaper leviathans

I miss Jerry :(

[the-mirror-sunflower-owo]

So my dear classmate got me back to Subnautica and like.. I had no idea there's something such as Below Zero and now that I know.. Boi, I love itttt. I started playing it yesterday and ✨woah✨. Love every bit of it.

But anyways, here I drew this shrimp shark beauty!

Hope you're having a good day/night!

[peeperbelowzero]

DUDE!!!