| Ocean Phantom | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Naming | |||
| Binomen | N/A | ||
| Morphology | |||
| Body type | Siphonophore | ||
| Intelligence | |||
| Sapience | Non-Sapient | ||
| Ecology | |||
| Habitat | Shallow seas | ||
| Diet | Carnivorous Energy from symbiotic algae | ||
| Locomotion | Sailing | ||
| Behind the Scenes | |||
| Universe | The Future Is Wild | ||
| “ | An Ocean Phantom is like a floating city. A whole community supporting itself as it's blown across the ocean. |
” |
— The Future Is Wild
| ||
Floating on the warm shallow seas (no deeper than 50 meters at its greatest depths) which cover a great chunk of Earth's continental masses about 100 million years in the future, the Ocean Phantom is a gigantic kind of colonial cnidarian - a composite organism made of several individual jellyfish-like creatures, each of which grows in a different shape and serves a different function.
Some units are shaped as and used as mobile sails, allowing the entire colony to be carried by the winds and navigate. Others form floating units filled with carbon monoxide and housing symbiotic red algae which also produce food for the Phantom via photosynthesis. On the "stern" part of the boat-like Phantom's body, there are even some polyps which grow into the shape of a mobile rudder. And on the underside of it, there are those which form tentacles with bell-shaped mouths at the tip to capture prey; as well as special units which give shelter to the symbiotic Spindletroopers: a type of sea spiders which help protect the Phantom from predators such as the adult Reef Gliders.
Perhaps the greatest menace faced by this organism, though, are the occasional ocean storms which can shake it and tear its pieces apart, after which each unit will slowly regenerate itself into a new full-grown Ocean Phantom.
