Ocean Reptiles ?

[rust]

When designing a world, I prefer to adapt real world creatures instead of
inventing completely new body plans.

During the work on my last water world project, I decided not to use rep-
tiles, because I thought that they would need at least some land to lay
their eggs, but now I have seen one of those fascinating BBC documen-
taries that did show some reptiles (e.g. anacondas) that are obviously
able to hatch their eggs inside their bodies and give birth to living young
ones.

Before I now jump to conclusions and take this as an opportunity to po-
pulate my new water world with lots of reptile species:
Is there any other reason why reptiles might be unable to survive in a
purely marine environment (if I miss it, the players will find it ...) ?

Thank you.

 

[Gaidheal]

So long as it's aquatic capable, I can't see why a reptilian species couldn't be an ocean dweller. It'd need to be able to locomote in water and perhaps breathe underwater (I'm assuming 'M class' atmosphere, hehe!) - mammals are quite capable of birthing in water, so... nothing obvious from me.

 

[rust]

Thank you very much.

 

[nezeray]

Anybody heard of a coperhead snake? I think they're a reptile.

James / Nezeray

 

[rust]

Thank you very much, too - I had never heard of it.

 

[Gaidheal]

No... I've heard of the Copperhead, though; it's a reptile, alright but it's not ocean dwelling or even actually aquatic.

 

[rust]

Yep, but it also gives birth to living young ones, so this is obviously
not as uncommon for reptiles as I had thought.

 

[Gaidheal]

OIC! I wasn't following the thrust at all, hehe! :¬)

 

[Ishmael]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_snake

 

[rust]

Thank you very much.

I was obviously looking at the wrong kind of reptiles last time. I do not
like snakes very much, and this caused me to miss a lot of most inter-
esting and useful information, it seems.

 

[EDG]

Depends how you define "reptile" really. Would the term even apply in an alien ecosystem?

 

[Gaidheal]

I think he's following a 'parallel evolution' idea, at least while fishing for species to base his game creatures from, anyway.

 

[nezeray]

Just be sure to make them look different enough so they're scary to the players. I like red mohawks.

James / Nezeray

 

[rust]

I think he's following a 'parallel evolution' idea, at least while fishing for species to base his game creatures from, anyway.

Exactly.

One of the players knows a lot more about biology than I do, so I prefer
to stay close to real world (= obviously "working") body plans in order
to avoid being caught with a design that would obviously be impossible.

Of course, I do add "alien" features to the "real world models", but the
basic creature is one I know to exist (or have existed - I often use ra-
ther strange prehistoric animals, like those of the Ediacara or Burgess
Shale fauna).

 

[Gaidheal]

Heh, Biology is for girls and those too weak on maths to manage hard sciences like Chemistry and Physics (the latter is for people with no social life, unlike we Chemists with our stills and lively socials, by the way). ;¬)

 

[rust]

Heh, Biology is for girls and those too weak on maths to manage hard sciences like Chemistry and Physics ...

If I tell him that, he will use my setting's water world as construction ma-
terial for a ringworld ... :lol:

 

[Gaidheal]

Nah, fuel for his spaceship, though.

 

[EDG]

You could just replace "reptile" with "creatures with a cold-blooded metabolism like Terran reptiles", that'd be a more meaningful place to start.

But this is out of my area of expertise

 

[Golan2072]

Look HERE for inspiration.

 

[rust]

Thank you very much, EDG and Golan2072.