This is SO COOL! I love this idea, and you have NO IDEA how closely it parallels some of my recent thinking on aliens...I was just working on the text for something I'm going to post soon when I took a break to check my messages. Check out my scraps later today, I'm hoping you'll be able to contribute to the discussion!

If you haven't already seen it, you might like ~fractal's [link] !

Thanks! I'm glad you like it! It means a lot to see other spec-evolution fans say they like it.

Ah neat! Yet another pseudo-"plant" organism! With some animal trait thrown in as well!

I see you also did a chart! Looks neat! I shall check it out!

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"There's nothing wrong with having voices in your head, it's when they leave you out of the conversation you have to worry"
Join my evolution club~The Domain of Darwin! [link]

awww it looks like a weird little squid!

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Except it's a veggie!

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"There's nothing wrong with having voices in your head, it's when they leave you out of the conversation you have to worry"
Join my evolution club~The Domain of Darwin! [link]

so it's a healthy squid!

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c(")(")This is Bunny. Copy Bunny into your signature to help him on his way to world domination!

Marissa Rose will forever be remembered

but why "cardio"?

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Johnny was a chemist's son,
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So these things simply use heat to generate bio-chemical energy? How? It sounds like a cool idea (heat drives a gradient that moves molecules across a barrier to generate something like ATP), but no earth organism has managed the trick. We have photosynthesis, chemo-synthesis, but no...thermosynthesis? Maybe it's because the temperatures at which it would work would denature any biological molecule. That problem could be solved though. Maybe that's why they need muscular pumping systems, to pump heated water away from the heat source before the temperature climbs too high.

Another sort of thermo-synthetic organism could be a huge tube-shaped thing that creates an internal gradient between the cold water near Europa's crust and the hot water around areas of vulcanism. Water moving through the tube could power biochemical turbines.

It means heart.

--
"There's nothing wrong with having voices in your head, it's when they leave you out of the conversation you have to worry"
Join my evolution club~The Domain of Darwin! [link]

Thanks for your input! I still have a lot of fleshing out to do.

They use a hybrid system for getting energy to process biochemicals. They absorb chemicals from the surrounding water and vents, then the chemicals undergo primary biological processing in the Chemical Body tissues. In there different substances are mixed in with the absorbed material. Then the chemical fluid is loaded into the arms, where they are put in the heat and infra-red light absorbing tissue, where the energy is used to catalyze reactions. Then the results are circulated around the body of the organism, or stored. Also, as a supplementary source of material, detritus can be absorbed by the organism.

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"There's nothing wrong with having voices in your head, it's when they leave you out of the conversation you have to worry"
Join my evolution club~The Domain of Darwin! [link]