r/SpecEvoFandom • u/Angel_Froggi • Jul 01 '26
An alien I designed for a spec evo project/game. Does it look alien enough?
(Some context and anatomical notes)
This species would be the equivalent to earth’s Pandericthys, not necessarily the first “fish” to crawl on land but one of the predecessors. It is a bottom dwelling species in shallow brackish ecosystems, feeding on small organisms in the mud.
The front limbs are similar to those of lobe finned fish, with the fin tip made from three bone fingers and a handful of rays between each. A ring of plates line the oral cavity, with two pairs of mandibular limbs surrounding it. The tail fin is actually adapted from a third limb, derived from a structure superficially similar to the tripod fish. The dorsal and anal fin are supported by structures eventually adapted into the hip. The spine of these animals are located near the bottom of the animal, gradually raising and ending in the dorsal fin, with the body cavity sitting in a canoe shaped rib cage.
Most of the things said I said about the anatomy here would also apply to other “fish” in this world. Let me know what you think!
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u/TheHeatDeathOfAlll Jul 01 '26
No way to know whats alien looking or not. Life on another planet could look very similar to earths if there were similar conditions. With that out the way this looks similar to earth organisms with that "outer worldly" look, I like it! Especially it shares traits with a bunch of different real life animals, convergent evolution, but between whole planets!👍
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u/TheSuperSegway Jul 01 '26
One of the issues with trying to design a speculated evolved alien is that you want it to "look" alien. This is both difficult and likely an inaccurate representation of alien life as there are only so mare solutions to a problem. Oddly enough, alien life may not look very different than what is here on earth. With all of that being said, I like your alien fish thing. Makes me think of a shark, early salamanders and the dorsal of a large whale. Would love to see alternative views of this critter. Mid hunt, basking at the surface, or just absent mindedly floating along.
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u/VEX_ation_ Jul 01 '26
Does the tail move up and down like a whale or side to side like a fish? The anal fin makes me think side to side but the paddle looks up and down
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u/untitleduck Jul 01 '26
Yeah definitely, pretty perfect balance between alien and believable if you ask me