A possible evolutionary relationship
The_Shark
USA Join Date: 2015-08-24 Member: 207433Members
USA Join Date: 2015-08-24 Member: 207433Members
So, I was wandering around in one of my trusty SeaMoths as I do, and I heard a sound.
Turned around, and saw a bone shark. I listened to him for a while longer, because I thought I had heard the sound, or something like it, before. Then, it hit me.
See the similarity?
It got me thinking. The sounds made by Bone Sharks, and the ones made by Reapers, are disturbingly similar. So, as I was wandering around (I did encounter an actual Reaper when I went into the dunes on that expedition), I thought to myself about how similar the two really are.
Let's take a look at a few physical parts of them:
Tail fins:
If you look, both tail fins are horizontal extensions out of the central body, with the body extending slightly beyond the base of the fins. In addition, both tail fins have the same crescent shape, with a slight upward curve.
Skull protrusions:
This is possibly the most obvious example. Both the Bone Shark and the Reaper Leviathan have four protrusions from the base of the skull, two to each side. On the Bone Shark, these don't do anything, but the Reaper seems to have evolved to have extended and articulated protrusions to use when hunting.
Overall shape:
Both body shapes are strikingly similar. The skull, with a pair of forward fins jutting out from below, make up the front. The elongated body has a bulged-out section right behind the forward fins, then slims down to move along into the tail fins.
Ridge:
Both creatures have a ridge of some form along their back. The Bone Shark has overlapping layers of its exoskeleton, and the Reaper has a pair of parallel red lines of something running from just behind the head to the tail.
Forward fins:
Both have almost-straight fins starting from the bottom of the body, just behind the head. These each curve very slightly back from their base to their tip, and both are unusually thick for fins.
Teeth:
Both the Reaper and the Bone Shark have a large amount of uneven teeth, which are as far forward as the shape of the jaw will allow (resulting in no outer lips for either).
And that's not all. There are also the things you can't just see in a picture.
For instance, spawn zones.
Reaper Leviathans tend to spawn in biomes with a maximum depth below the 100-meter mark, with steep (45-degree-or-more) cliffs being a regular thing. Bone sharks spawn in different biomes, but they have the same criteria: 100-meter-plus maximum depth, with steep cliffs all over.
In addition, the Reapers spawn in the Crash Zone, Dunes, and Mountain biomes. Bone Sharks prefer to stay to the Mushroom Forests, Koosh Zone, and the Floating Islands.
Every Reaper biome shares at least one border with a Bone Shark biome, and vice versa. Mushroom Forests are adjacent to the Crash Zone and the Dunes. The Koosh Zone is right next to the Crash Zone. The Floating Islands biome (not Floater Isle, the northern one) shares a border with the Mountains.
Generally, when a species splits into two, the newer ones tend to stay in a fairly close proximity to each other (except when the environment demands otherwise).
And their attack style? They're aggroed, and they begin a charge, mouth open, directly towards their target.
I'd love some feedback on this theory. I'm not sure if this was all intentional or not, but you have to admit, the similarities are just too many to be ignored.
Turned around, and saw a bone shark. I listened to him for a while longer, because I thought I had heard the sound, or something like it, before. Then, it hit me.
See the similarity?
It got me thinking. The sounds made by Bone Sharks, and the ones made by Reapers, are disturbingly similar. So, as I was wandering around (I did encounter an actual Reaper when I went into the dunes on that expedition), I thought to myself about how similar the two really are.
Let's take a look at a few physical parts of them:
Tail fins:
If you look, both tail fins are horizontal extensions out of the central body, with the body extending slightly beyond the base of the fins. In addition, both tail fins have the same crescent shape, with a slight upward curve.
Skull protrusions:
This is possibly the most obvious example. Both the Bone Shark and the Reaper Leviathan have four protrusions from the base of the skull, two to each side. On the Bone Shark, these don't do anything, but the Reaper seems to have evolved to have extended and articulated protrusions to use when hunting.
Overall shape:
Both body shapes are strikingly similar. The skull, with a pair of forward fins jutting out from below, make up the front. The elongated body has a bulged-out section right behind the forward fins, then slims down to move along into the tail fins.
Ridge:
Both creatures have a ridge of some form along their back. The Bone Shark has overlapping layers of its exoskeleton, and the Reaper has a pair of parallel red lines of something running from just behind the head to the tail.
Forward fins:
Both have almost-straight fins starting from the bottom of the body, just behind the head. These each curve very slightly back from their base to their tip, and both are unusually thick for fins.
Teeth:
Both the Reaper and the Bone Shark have a large amount of uneven teeth, which are as far forward as the shape of the jaw will allow (resulting in no outer lips for either).
And that's not all. There are also the things you can't just see in a picture.
For instance, spawn zones.
Reaper Leviathans tend to spawn in biomes with a maximum depth below the 100-meter mark, with steep (45-degree-or-more) cliffs being a regular thing. Bone sharks spawn in different biomes, but they have the same criteria: 100-meter-plus maximum depth, with steep cliffs all over.
In addition, the Reapers spawn in the Crash Zone, Dunes, and Mountain biomes. Bone Sharks prefer to stay to the Mushroom Forests, Koosh Zone, and the Floating Islands.
Every Reaper biome shares at least one border with a Bone Shark biome, and vice versa. Mushroom Forests are adjacent to the Crash Zone and the Dunes. The Koosh Zone is right next to the Crash Zone. The Floating Islands biome (not Floater Isle, the northern one) shares a border with the Mountains.
Generally, when a species splits into two, the newer ones tend to stay in a fairly close proximity to each other (except when the environment demands otherwise).
And their attack style? They're aggroed, and they begin a charge, mouth open, directly towards their target.
I'd love some feedback on this theory. I'm not sure if this was all intentional or not, but you have to admit, the similarities are just too many to be ignored.
Comments
... it doesn't want us here.
Not particularly. Traits don't evolve together, then get lost. The Reaper would just have to get the four eyes after the split.
I agree. I've noticed that as well, and I even made a comment about it somewhere in the past.
Also, strong chin.
and that the reaper is probably more closely related to the stalker
whilst the bone shark is probably more closely related the the sand-shark...
EDIT: those four protrusions on the bone shark - I could easily see those becoming attachment points for muscles and ligaments for the reaper's appendages.
No to mention the behavior is probably just a result of temporary coding or lazy coding. The bone sharks will attempt to bite the seamoth, while the reaper will slam it into the floor.
Well, if you notice, I went into a lot more detail than "They got the same teeth." Then there's the fin shape, the presence of a ridge... all of which, while they are "generic" criteria, are still rather important. If you talk to an evolutionary biologist in real life, and give them two creatures with this many similarities, no matter how "generic" (still wondering why that matters), they'll start looking into possible background linking the two.
Well, if there's one thing that UWE cannot be accused of, it's lazy coding. Granted, more than two creatures have this attack style (though the Stalker being the third and last isn't much more). However, the exact style of these two is very similar. Even the Stalker, the only other thing to perform a head-on charge with mouth open (Sand shark doesn't count, it can't close its mouth anyway), will tend to do so from behind, or from a location where it will make it hard to see them until it's too late. The Boneshark and the Reaper ignore any tactics like that, and just go for it.
The SeaMoth? Everything attacks the SeaMoth the same way, with the exception of the Reaper. Ignoring the fact that they're coded AI, and looking at the behavior from a biological perspective, they just don't understand what the SeaMoth is.