[Marine] Luminix Concept

NAME

Luminix

APPEARANCE

A healthy luminix is quite easy to spot by its vibrant, bioluminescent sponges that cling to its softer appendages and fins. This specimen sports a hard outer shell-like skin that appears to grow with it throughout its lifespan, assumedly for protection from predatory species. Most interestingly, the luminex does not have eyes, a mouth, nor gills like most other sea creatures. Instead, where these features would normally exist are replaced with sound-catching and sound-producing organs for communication with surroundings and one another. Luminix have proportionally large tail fins that propel it quickly in the water. The shell of the luminix has been observed in a two-toned palette of greys and blues. The brightly glowing sponges, in which it “eats” from, are multicolored and can be any neon color. Its fins and legs are also quite colorful, and usually present in a gradient color. Generally, the larger the creature’s sponges are, the older the creature is. The intensity of the sponge’s glow is directly tied to the creature’s health. 

BEHAVIOR

In the wild, the luminix exists in large groups, or “drifts”. Within a drift of luminix, high-frequency sound waves produced from their empty eye sockets can be heard underwater. The luminix are docile most of the time, but have been observed to become aggressive with one another within their drift on rare occasions. In each drift of luminix, there is one dominant leader, with the rest of the colony existing as laid-back followers of said leader. The leader is protected by the drift and will decide if and where the colony will move. The identifier for the drift’s leader is the size of its sponges - the leader’s sponges are the biggest and brightest out of the entire drift, seeming to grow into its magnificence sporadically upon becoming the dominant luminix. When the leader dies, the drift will erupt into chaos to establish a new leader, using their legs and powerful tail fin to spar, often to the death. 

These colorful creatures then use paper-thin grooves embedded in their shell (primarily on the pseudo-mouth and flank areas) to receive sound waves as they bounce off each other or objects in their vicinity. This primitive means of echolocation uncovers information of their surroundings, or any impending danger, in place of having eyes - useful at night, or in murky/deep water. Luminix do not actively eat, but instead feed off small particles floating in the water passively via their sponges. Likewise, they do not need to actively breathe, obtaining oxygen from their spongy pores in the same manner. 

REPRODUCTION

Despite preferring to travel in groups, the luminix reproduces asexually, similar to plant life. Near the end of its life, a luminix will shed its antler-like ear fins and release eggs out of the empty holes into shallow water. These eggs do not appear to need any sort of fertilization and will grow into a developed larva. 

LIFECYCLE

This specimen has four main life stages - egg, juvenile, adolescent, and adult. A juvenile hatchling will emerge fully-developed from an egg. The juvenile luminix has fairly complex features upon hatching, and will continue to develop over its adolescence until maturation. At the end of the luminix’s life, it will release eggs into shallow water in reproduction, and will sink to the bottom of the ocean in death shortly thereafter. The exact age that a luminix (and its glowing sponges) can reach, wild or captive, is still unknown and will require additional research. 

UTILITY

Water filtration, bioluminescent light. A healthy, glowing piece of luminix sponge can be found infrequently in the water, which can then be captured and nursed like a plant to provide light.

KNOWN HABITATS
The “luminix” species has been spotted on several expeditions of Tidix-c’s nautical moon, Tidix-c II, at varying water depths. This docile creature appears to prefer shallow depths or shady areas within caves, though it has been observed idling at the floors of reefs, perhaps to better blend in with its colorful surroundings. It has not yet been discovered in deep-sea adventures, possibly due to its fragile sponge-like segments.