GELPOTS

written july 2020

Gelpots are an intelligent but sessile aquatic species. They're basically polyps with big brains...

They have tentacles with hook "hands" and eye stalks arranged around a triangular mouth on one end, and a hard shell they can hide in on the other. Their bodies are split into thirds, with two of them being symmetrical; for example, near the top of their body, one third contains the brain and heart and the other two have a pair of lungs. In some places all thirds are symmetrical, like at the very top of their body (tentacles, eyes, mouth), or the very end (gelpots have three anuses!).

Young gelpots, like most sessile animals, can actually swim. Adults live in colonies of usually about a dozen individuals, forming roughly ball-shaped structures out of the same material as their shells, with the gelpots being attached on the inside. Young gelpots stay inside the colony for a while, before leaving them (they all do it at around the same time) to form new ones.

Gelpots are omnivorous; they can hunt by hiding and attacking passing animals, but they also cultivate plants in and around the colony. The plants also attract more prey for the gelpots.

Colonies can stay attached to one place, however very often they do move around! This is thanks to macetails, a larger, motile species related to gelpots. Macetails are just as intelligent as gelpots, and the two have a mutually beneficial relationship - macetails live in gelpot colonies, and in return they move them when necessary.