Ossurans elongus

Ossurans elongus
Creator	LucasDaVinci
Information
Status	Extant
Zones	8
Roles	Detritivore
Classification
Genus	Ossurans
Species	Ossurans elongus
Evolution
Date	April 20th, 2021
Ancestor	Ossurans foraminus
Descendants	No results

Evolved to be a more efficient filter feeder using a larger feeding cone and greater olfactory sense.

Filter feeds for food.

Adult size is about 6 cm across the shell and the siphons are about 4-5 cm long.

Breeds via broadcasting, eggs and sperm released by each fully mature individual seasonally. Reaches full hermaphrodite maturity at ~2 weeks.

Evolved much longer input siphons and tiny setae inside them. The setae are have little chemosensitive organs right beneath them. And they are able to retract the siphons into their shell.

The setae are chitinous structures that point away from the mouth of the siphon. When new water is pulled in the setae are pushed down which put caught chemicals on to chemosensitive organs inside the siphon. Each siphon has about 20 of these setae and corresponding organs lining the inside of the siphons. When chemicals that indicate a predator are smelled the siphons are retracted and when chemicals that indicate more food are detected the siphons are all pointed and slowly maneuvered in that direction.

These longer siphons and setae inside allow for more food particles to be caught by having a larger area of feeding to exist around each Ossuran. With longer siphons they can be spread out and cover a larger surface to pull water from. When food sources run low, the setae direct the Ossuran to put their siphons where the food is smelled from.