Subnautica: Alien Fauna Analysis

[@nateo3040]

It can also be noted that part of the concept of the game lies in the mass extinction that has taken place on the planet. While there are many striking variations and no real links between them, it can also be reasonably assumed that many of the transitional species have already died off, making it all appear very disconnected. You've clearly put plenty of thought into this, but this is just a counterpoint to take into account with the fauna evaluation. You can't evaluate it as a normal ecosystem, rather an ecosystem that's already fallen apart and continuing to do so until the main character steps in. Excellent video though!

[@Phrenotopia]

Nathan Osterhous Thank you! That is a fair point to consider, although I would venture to say that even a dying ecosystem would still look evolved. It should still be possible to find a phylogenetic signal. Earth's biodiversity has gone through many mass extinctions and yet we are able to piece together its evolution even without fossils. I may look at this in a followup video!

[@nateo3040]

Phrenomythic Thank you so much! I just wanted to present a counterpoint and a possible reason for you to revisit the subject because your evaluation was excellent! I just wanted to make the point of the extinction because it's easily overlooked and could possibly play a role in the results

[@Phrenotopia]

Yes, I will certain consider this point for a followup video!

[@Phrenotopia]

#commentsuggestion

[@billcipher147]

It should also be noted that Subnautica's map is located in a dormant volcanic crater, approximately 2km in diameter. The rest of the planet consists of an extremely deep area that is commonly reffered to as the "Dead Zone" or "The Void." Like the PDA says, it basically only supports two kinds of life: microscopic and leviathan class. Since this so called Dead Zone likely takes up most of the planet, it's pretty safe to assume that most creatures we encounter have evolved from leviathans. This is even directly hinted at by multiple data bank entries. The reason why the ecosystem in this area wasn't completely destroyed is because of the peepers that spread Enzyme 42. However, since peepers can't survive in the dead zone it is pretty safe to assume that most of these leviathan class creatures have gone extinct. So that is also something that should definitely be taken into consideration.

[@SybilantSquid]

When you started talking about Frankenstein fusions, I immediately thought of the platypus.

[@Phrenotopia]

Good point! I should maybe bring that up in a followup video.

[@Phrenotopia]

#commentsuggestion

[@Triumph263]

I do have to say Australia's world building is a complete mess. None of those species make sense within the broader world building of the "Earth" franchise.

[@Phrenotopia]

@@Triumph263 - I have some thoughts on that and will get to that in the near future! :-)

[@MarmoMossBoll]

Platypus technically existed before all the creatures it has its features from

[@thegreattotemaster]

Here's an idea. What if the planet in Subnautica has had life on it for a very long time (much longer than Earth has), and has gone through countless mass extinctions (of greatly varying severity) spread throughout its history? On Earth, we've had 5 major mass extinctions so far (with a possible sixth looming, but that's a whole other can of worms), but imagine if there had been, like 20 of them! Let's say that billions of years ago, it started out with one giant kingdom of organisms that looked similar enough that they could be easily classified. Those organisms then diversified and evolved in many different ways. Then a mass extinction happens, and a large handful of random lineages (along with a few relict "branches") make it. The survivors evolve again, and come up with even more varied body plans. Then another extinction happens, smaller this time. The same cycle of evolution and extinction then repeats several dozen times. Gradually, you might start seeing the more "basal" groups being phased out over time, and their more derived relatives diversifying even further. Imagine, if you will, that you didn't know what a tree was, and you had to figure out the appearance of an entire oak from a few leaves, some bits of bark, an acorn and a gall tumour.

[@doctorcoctor2471]

My theory is that the links between these species were wiped out with the advent of the Karaa Bacterium coming to the planet. This would cause only certain, more resistant species to survive.

[@Dakurar]

I have to mention that although it is a good video, the term for Frankenstein fusion already exists: It's called a chimera.

[@raidermaxx2324]

frankenstein fusion is swedish for chimera.. .

[@BookWyrmOnAString]

@@raidermaxx2324 I dont know what bothers me more. Your fundamental misunderstanding of the swedish language and language in general, or that ellipsis.

[@kacperxt371]

Chimera is organisim that have two types of cell with different DNA and they happen all the time.

[@gladiusbladeofthenorth9939]

Its Said in game that the Oculus is related to the peeper,but instead of living in the shallows its addapted to deep Sea caves,also It has a mouth,its a filter feeder

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, clearly these two species were intended to be related, as I said, but the differences are a little bit too big. I also wonder how a lacking mouth and stalks instead of a tail-fin helps the Oculus survive in the caves. With regards to the mouth, see my answer to commenter Aku The Master of Masters.

[@gladiusbladeofthenorth9939]

Phrenomythic Also most of the planet is dead because of the Carar virus,because of that only some places contain life because of peepers going throught precursor Pipes,which means that a lot of creatures which can be related to alive ones are dead,you should also make a video on precursors,precursors are the advanced Race of the game,they come from another planet which was also destroyed because of the Carar virus

[@Phrenotopia]

Okeedokee! #commentsuggestion

[@cdgonepotatoes4219]

the PDA entry clearly tells a possible drastic change in the territory could've separated the species in two very close but different biomes, considering the whole map is supposidely on a dorment crater this thing could've easily took place a couple million years ago. The Oculus is said to have lost its beak as it started feeding on the soft jellyshrooms and the tail changed that way as the predators down there were way too fast, so they segmented their tail in 5 "disposable" limbs. But overall, yeah, the Khaara bacterium really fucked up the planet in those 1600 years or so that have passed since the outbreak. It could be that the animals we're seeing still there are the few species that had some sort of contact with the Sea Emperor which is immune to the disease and it's known to release the enzyme by simply breathing the sorrounding water, those species either learned to interact with the Sea Emperor to survive or had those fish interacting with it in their diet.

[@InkubusGames]

Oculus is related to the story. SPOILER: It might be it is originally engineered artificially.

[@devoutrelic1228]

Wow, you really put a lot of thought into this, and you clearly know what your talking about. Although, I would like to point out that the PDA entries for most of the creatures are pretty clear on whether or not their vertebrates, as well as other important information! Perhaps you could look more into this if you have the time? I would do it myself, but your clearly more qualified for this experiment.

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks for the feedback and compliments! It sounds like I need to spend some more time with the PDA entries. How is it made clear which ones are vertrebrates? Is it said explicitly? I only gleaned some of the X-ray images where you sometimes can see a backbone, but not always.

[@rexosuitmk2577]

Phrenomythic there was also a mass extinction event on 4546B that had a severe bottleneck effect on the community. Most classes -scratch that- phylum are gone. Using the current species to create an accurate classification system is next to impossible.

[@Phrenotopia]

@@rexosuitmk2577 Will take that into account for my follow-up, thanks! #commentsuggestion

[@vadernation1233]

@@Phrenotopia really late but you do get a great look at the sea dragon leviathan’s skeleton in the lost river. At the center of a crossroads chamber leading into the bone fields, destroyed alien facility, and the cove tree you can find a fossilized skeleton of a sea dragon. Not sure how helpful it’d be but who knows it might

[@vadernation1233]

@@Phrenotopia really late but you do get a great look at the sea dragon leviathan’s skeleton in the lost river. At the center of a crossroads chamber leading into the bone fields, destroyed alien facility, and the cove tree you can find a fossilized skeleton of a sea dragon. Not sure how helpful it’d be but who knows it might

[@niklasneighbor6726]

Some of the species you said hadn't a mouth, actually had a mouth that's just hard to notice

[@cruxnajii2056]

I would love a more in-depth look at the Flora and Fauna of subnautica.

[@purplehaze2358]

To be fair, a lot of Subnautica’s species were wiped out by Kharaa. Perhaps only a very select number of species from each group of animals survived, any close relatives and basal forms dying out.

[@isaacdare9960]

The rabbit ray's evolution is explained through the crimson ray and other ray species.

[@zadedohan]

Maybe the explanation for the lack of related species involves the Carar disease, which has led to a mass extinction on the planet most likely killing off the species that bridge the gap. The species we see in the game are the most adaptive of the pre-extinction planet and have adapted a resistance to the disease

[@spectral5939]

I really enjoyed that! Couple things to say if you have the time to read this: The Bladderfish holes I theorize, are a way of it exhaling carbon dioxide. The hoopfish and Spadefish have Tube-like fins on them to either... A possible deliver nutrients to the fins for possibly faster mobility or just to deliver nutrients throughout the body better in general. Or B they are fins themselves and are just used as a mobility thing. I think the lavalizard (if that is the name) and the Seadragon could be have a possible common ancestor. with the massive amount of similarities.

[@foxandfrog4742]

as someone who likes video games and considers going into biology, THIS WAS AMAZING!

[@Phrenotopia]

Thank you! Follow your dreams! Even though I no longer work with biology, I am so glad I did the study!

[@TheGeminiZodiac2]

This is different than what I had expected. I was expecting you to go through the codex and discuss the merits of each animals descriptions, like how Biters and the Reaper Leviathan apparently don't have brains, or that the Rockgrub, a creature that may have been added later on, is apparently related to the Sandshark. Still, I like the work that was put into this. Thanks for the stellar content.

[@vadernation1233]

The reaper has a brain it’s just not a brain that makes it very smart.

[@purplehaze2358]

From my perspective, since most fauna and floura follow the same base form at the root of the tree, so there should’ve been a lot of common traits between each animal, while still being distinct.

[@kirknay]

A lot of these issues involving the massive gaps in the relations could be easily explained in the planet's mass extinction less than 5k years ago. In fact, the only things alive outside the crater are either microscopic, or massive and predatory.

[@random2740]

Your videos are pretty much exactly what I wanted to find on youtube! PLEASE MAKE MORE OF THESE TYPES OF VIDEOS!!! and thank you...

[@Phrenotopia]

Thank you so much! I am trying as much as I can to make more! :-D

[@raidermaxx2324]

check out Isaac Clarke for more of these types of videos, but more about space, and future worlds

[@fablereader4486]

Really interesting and enjoyable.

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks, buddy!

[@Chernogorath]

I really like the effort put into this! Something to consider is that all the creatures reproduce asexually, not sure if it would but still. But what I do know, is that it seems the planet itself is in a bit of a weird spot, I can't tell if the planet is a moon to the one so close to it in-game, or if it's just two planets orbiting each other. We know that 4546B is the second planet in its solar system, so perhaps the star itself gives off more radiation then normal (a pulsar of sorts), and the planet gets its atmosphere wiped out so often (We do know it had a mass extinction, maybe that could have been the cause of it), but the tidal forces the orbiting planet provides keeps it from freezing over if it's out the Goldilocks zone. We also see plenty of creatures surviving just fine around the Aurora after it's radiation leak, hinting that life there maybe resilient to such things. So perhaps this ecosystem is driven by mass mutations out of asexual reproduction, which would just be Darwinism cranked up alongside evolution at equal speeds. Something to consider in the next video!

[@raidermaxx2324]

well to be fair, radiation doesnt kill lifeforms immediatly, especially in creatures that reproduce quickly, and dont gestate like mammals.. For example, take the catfish of chernobyl, or the ocean wildlife around Fukishima

[@evoo9752]

Nice Video! I Would've Also Enjoyed Seeing You Talk About How The Leviathan Class Species Could Be Related,Despite Their Size Example The Sea Treader And The Reefback Upon Further Inspection,The Only Similarity Between These Two Species Is The Hard Carapace On Their Back,Despite It Probably Being Made From Different Materials Also In Regards To This Video Maybe The Fact That The Game Takes Place In A Volcanic Crater Affected The Evolutionary Traits Of Some Species? Anyways Great Video! You've Earned A New Subscriber :D

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks, man! Sorry for being off the radar, but I'll be back!

[@brownie8655]

For years I have been looking for a youtuber who does what you do. I can't even wrap my head around the idea of someone as biology-smart as this who talks about video game animals. Instant subscriber.

[@Awesomecrunch]

Awesome! Loads of work went into this, I can tell.

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks, buddy! It always become more work than I anticipate, so it always a relief when it's finally done and people actually enjoy it! :-D

[@Awesomecrunch]

Phrenomythic No problem! Ill recommend this video to all.

[@leofricthequick8302]

I’m a bit late to the party, but this is an awesome video and I would love to see a follow up especially since there’s a ton of new creature now both in subnautica and below zero

[@R10system]

Sadly the world of subnautica is semi-hard to study due to a whopping 85% of the life on the planet being wiped out by the Carar virus, by the time you're seeing it in-game, the world is only recently recovering from a mass-extinction. what I really find the most interesting is how it's stated all lifeforms [at least the ones encountered] reproduce asexually but for some reason aren't all clones.

[@Phrenotopia]

Yes, indeed, we could imagine some kind of justification for the current state of the ecosystem. However, even an ecosystem that has gone through mass extinctions would still look evolved somehow, point in case being Earth's. I would love to speculate on that in a followup video.

[@SpookyEggs]

Phrenomythic well yeah most of the evidence of evolution would be in the fossils which aren't present in game. Besides the three massive ones located in the lost river.

[@Phrenotopia]

@@SpookyEggs Not quite, a lot of evidence actually comes from different species bodies and genomes, for Earth life at least. Fossils are just a bonus, but not necessary for my proving my point.

[@OrigamiPhoenix]

Exactly what it promised, with a good amount of rigor (as much as is possible with the available data) behind it!

[@Cain0001]

This is absolutely fascinating, i really wanna hear more

[@opalthediloalt9595]

I feel like the animals could have had some evolution.

[@kommanderkodi4552]

This deserves WAY more views

[@phatom104]

Well done, it's an amazing job what u have done, i really enjoy to see you'r video

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks, man!

[@ernestmoreno8244]

interesting video but on the other hand the Cambrian explosion was just was just a inside job

[@Phrenotopia]

Good point! I will jot that down for my followup video. #comment-suggestion

[@theerror_7417]

I really enjoyed the video, I can tell that a lot of effort went into this.

[@Phrenotopia]

Thank you! :-D

[@silvertheelf]

Can you make another one with all the new below zero creatures?

[@silvertheelf]

All animals have a mouth in subnautica, just some are designed as filter feeding mouths and others as normal mouths.

[@UnderstandingUs]

Very interesting and congrats on 2k

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks and thank you! :-D

[@raikou889]

it can also be noted that in the game storyline, it was a previously unexplored/unknown by humans. while the precursors did explore the planet long before, their language is still unkown in game as far as i know, and their "official" names of the fauna, lost. this in my eyes generates the idea that the "bone sharks" and "sand sharks' were likely given their names by the character because he/she named it after what they felt like they resembled. this is can also be said for the rest of the species.

[@BensLab]

A lot to think about...you put a lot of work into this one...Good one, and well done on hitting 2000 subscribers!

[@Phrenotopia]

Hi Ben! Thanks, mate!

[@SpyWilliam123]

Could you make a video about how you made the phylogenetic tree using the program?

[@lsswappedcessna]

There was an 'extinction event,' caused by whatever cataclysm occurred to create the playable area. That could be why the transition species are not present, because they were wiped out either on that side of the planet, or the entirety of 4546B.

[@donpacificbobcat9er615]

I would definitely love if you were to go more in depth with this. Especially since you’ve missed some of the creatures found in the game. Though then again some of them were genetically modified.

[@eybaza6018]

*Cough cough Warpers *Cough cough

[@Nanamowa]

What you failed to take into account is the lore of Subnautica. There was a relatively recent mass dieoff of most species on 4546b due to the Khraa, which accounts for the lack of intermediates between existing fauna on the planet. The evolution of Rays on 4546b is well documented as well.

[@TheMainTagonist]

i think another case against the realism of subnauticas biology is the fact that the player is actually inhabiting a volcanic lake so one would think the biodiversity of the crater would be much lower than it seemingly is

[@Aethuviel]

As someone who started playing Subnautica in April 2022, this old version looks so plain and barren. It's absolutely beautiful now. The present-day game also explains a lot of biology, like the fact that the oculus does have a mouth, it just doesn't have a beak. The consensus tree also put the sea dragon and sea emperor in with the fluke swimmers, which doesn't make much sense. I haven't played Below Zero yet, but I love how more realistic it seems to be in terms of creature design, while Subnautica just threw together what looked cool.

[@Phrenotopia]

Yes, I think adding Alex Ries to the creature designers added a lot of plausibility and realism. He's great! I still insist that the Oculus doesn't appear to have a mouth. ;)

[@tompatterson1548]

So, that part about not doing a chimera, I am glad I reworked my neotenous tadpole to use modified external gills to filter feed and not just copied the jaws of the basking shark.

[@baconsir1159]

To be fair to Subnautica, the species present are on the tail end of a MASSIVE extinction-level event (the Carar Virus) which has confined the entirety of life on this planet to a relatively very small area which has been 'ventilated' with Emperor Leviathan (mucus?). This apparent mass migration, combined with the potential mutation caused by the Carar Virus could explain the lack of similarities between the game's different species.

[@D.V.McAwesome]

PLZ MOAR!!!!THE SCIENCE!I NEED IT!!

[@SilentMingan]

If I remember, a lot of names come from humans naming them, and we tend to go off things we are familiar with. The rabbit ray is analogous to our rays and skates.

[@GREENSP0RE]

I wonder how the addition of the species in the sequel will impact this analysis, especially with some organisms have their evolutionary links being explicitly stated in the lore of the upcoming game? Using PDA info to fill out more detailed characteristics could provide for a more complete picture.

[@Phrenotopia]

Yeah, it has become a daunting task by now that I would like to endeavour on eventually nevertheless.

[@alltoohuman01]

This is great. I rarely if ever see videos about speculative evolution. Nice to see someone fill that niche!

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks! I will try to make more of these videos. Did you see the one on Proxima b?

[@Dragontongue18]

This is really interesting! I'd like to see a more in depth analysis, especially with more information as it is made available in updates to the game.

[@peridoodle2644]

A problem that I noticed is that in the game itself it does not say that the sand shark and the bone shark are directly related. In fact it actually says that the sand shark is more closely related to the biter which it shares a general body shape and number of eyes with

[@TuxedoKitt]

Different "Variations" of the fauna and flora in the game, adapted to certain zones and ambients, such as the fish that looks like the pepper, he doesn't live close to it, quite far away.

[@nicholaspokorny5058]

Hopefully, the Below Zero dlc will give you more data to work with.

[@StevenJosephLee]

The generation of the evolutionary tree is fascinating, I've never seen something like that.

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks! It's a pretty standard procedure in Systematic Biology in order to elucidate relationships. Eventually, I may do a tutorial on these so-termed cladistic analyses.

[@nickbutler89]

The Data banks do try to explain these in my opinion pretty well. Take the biters two eyes for example, these (in the data banks link the two together with a leviathan skeleton in the disease research facility. The peeper and oculus are also explained with the Peepers beak being developed to crush hard coral in the safe shallows where as the oculus lost the need for it in the jellyshroom caves because their main source of food was softer. This video may have been released before they updated the data banks but I just thought I would point it out.

[@taigatanfan_]

What about the differences in atmosphere, gravity, radiation and all those other vital parts that do indeed have a significant importance in how a world and its creatures exist and evolve. They don’t mention much about it in the game but we can assume that it might have some similarities to Earth, but just by looking at the other planet orbiting so close to the one in the game we can assume that it also have quite some differences than how our works. I see that you put alot of effort into the video and the study behind it, but i just kind of find it lacking. Mainly because i see you use the study on how things are possible to evolve on our planet, in our atmosphere and all of that, without actually thinking that things actually maybe do evolve differently if the entire atmosphere and gravity is different. And lets not even start to talk about how different the microorganisms might be, and how they might have evolved if the water in subnautica might have had a high concentration of certain elements that would have paid a high importance in how the they would have evolved, lived and consumed.

[@archangel4868]

The Subnautica that we see is a very small area, and you are most likely looking at species numbers of large areas or the entire world. I don't know the exact play area available in Subnautica, however I think it may be 3000 meters by 3000 meters, so that may be something to take into consideration.

[@unabomberwasright]

Nice video!

[@zedantXiang]

I think the main problem,is trying to find if there is evolution going on ingame,while costantly comparing them to earth's animal instead of each other.

[@thefiredragon6542]

The greatest impact was the Meteor impact (i think.) With all climate changes etc... The secondary precursor research facility and thermal reactor are good places to get info and details. And yes i'm late, whatever.

[@anthraxmacabre5200]

Please make a part 2! This was great!

[@ethankennan212]

It’s interesting how you bring up the point of “Frankenstein Fauna”. I actually created a fictional clade of alien wild animals for a xenofiction story I have been working on which could also be described as a “Frankenstein Fauna”. I call them Weldorites. Basically the idea was to combine arthropod traits with bird traits, so you could get creatures that resemble sparrows with two mandibles, hummingbirds with a mosquito proboscis, eagles with spider fangs, among other things. I gave them exoskeletons, and I actually did take the time to figure out how they would have evolved after creating them. To give a small amount of information, their armored mandibles evolved from fleshy tendrils as protection from retaliation by their prey, and the feathers originally evolved to help keep warm during an ice age, but were repurposed for flight. The exoskeletons the feathers cover the are there because of their shared common ancestry with Insect/Gastropod hybrid creatures called Ogricks, which fill an insect like niche and are often eaten by their feathered cousins. Of course, they are distantly related, but still. Neither clade are the main protagonists of my story though. That’s all I’m going to share at the moment.

[@Phrenotopia]

That sounds really cool, Ethan! Let me know how it develops, because I would be more than willing to feature it on my channel some day, if you're interested in that. Some words of advice: Do mind that exoskeletons restrict size due to the constraints by gravity (assuming Earth-like gravity). However, we did have giant Dragonflies on Earth during the Carboniferous, so the possibilities are still wide, but do mind oxygen levels were elevated back then. Your hybrid creatures may need to borrow the vertebrate-type lungs, perhaps even singe-direction ones like in birds, to make this work out.

[@ethankennan212]

They actually do have lungs, yes. I have them breath through the mouth and/or through special macroscopic visible orifices surrounding the mouth. And there is one very large flying species that is pretty difficult to make realistic. I do try to think hard about how they could make being such a large flyer in a cold environment and high altitude work. Maybe they mostly lost their exoskeletons (except at the claws and feet, since the claws are derived from segments of the exoskeletons. Even then, it’s still sparse compared to smaller species.) and have special efficient pockets of air throughout their plumage to help them float, or perhaps their lungs could be regularly filled with dense air to give them a good floating ability? I also have them be one of the few species of that class of animals that doesn’t feed their offspring or make complex nests; the offspring must feed themselves by hunting small prey on the grounds of giant caves. This way the adults can save energy, as they need all the energy they can get. Perhaps the wild ones could reserve flight for going down and across the mountain only, walking back up when done hunting. And I do have a faction of aliens who keep some slightly larger ones and feed them a lot. Also, as odd as this sounds for a creature with an exoskeleton, Weldorites also have internal skeletons. This evolved to allow them(or rather, their ancestors which evolved separately from the Ogrick line) to grow bigger. I guess one reason to keep the exoskeletons after that would be armor against predators. The Smaller Weldorite species have less bones than the larger ones, which in turn often have thinner exoskeletons, at least relative to body size.

[@CateSabol]

The oculus and the peeper are related because the oculus is an evolved type of peeper. But I also think the oculus takes Bactria from the water and takes it into its belly

[@Siliziumwesen]

Is the "eye" on the c.crawlers back really an eye? Dint the pda said sth about a membrane for gas exchange? Maybe i missunderstood that. Anyways a really good video. A video about the plants would also be cool. And you should look at the pda entries for all of the creatures, there could be new information since the release.

[@jesusmora9379]

the occulus is clearly a form of convergent evolution like dolphins, ictiosaurs and tuna. the number of eyes is not a problem, arthropods have different number of eyes, and even vertebrates have too, the ancestors of mammals had three eyes.

[@hammerofpraxis9646]

Convergent evolution could also be a factor! Just because an animal lives in the water and has gills does not necessarily mean its a fish when we are talking about alien ecosystems. For instance, creatures during the Cambrian explosion looked incredibly alien and unrelated to one another, as opposed to modern animals where similarities can be clearly identified

[@Phrenotopia]

Indeed, which is why I put it in quotation marks. Maybe I should call them "parapisces". :-) Also: I will mention the Cambrian Explosion in a followup video.

[@katiekatie9135]

Can you do a video explaining how to use that phylogenetics program?

[@Phrenotopia]

Yes, I will probably do that at some stage, so stay tuned!

[@Magisking122]

To be fair, a lot of Subnautica's biodiversity has been killed off by the Carar, which has been ravaging the planet for thousands of years.

[@petersmythe6462]

Overall though I think the interesting question is what happens if you perform this phylogenetic analysis and add a bunch of beings that *aren't* in subnautica. For example one representative of each large oceanic order on Earth, or a bunch of random creatures with random values, or some mythical creatures like mermaids, long-necked seals, the Kraken, or the loch ness monster. If they're resolved as fitting in the tree, then that's a sign that the organisms probably aren't related and that the fauna of subnautica is probably not a monophyletic clade.

[@Эшли-о6к]

Precours realesed Carar!

[@purplemosasaurus5987]

Some things that I would like to point out is that if aliens were examining Earth, they wouldn't know if Platypuses are birds or mammals, you should've had Platypuses in mind while talking about this.

[@DapperDinosaur]

I really like Subnautica as a game, but the fauna always seemed deeply implausible as a group of evolved creatures on a single planet.

[@eybaza6018]

Let's not forget that the Khaara bacterium most likelly killed of all of the links between the different animal groups, making the surviving organisms more unrelated to eachother.

[@MeltingWall]

Maybe you could do this again with the new creatures from below zero!

[@jujuscrazyquest2534]

I would love to see this for the monster hunter games

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks! I will consider that! :-)

[@josephtfc]

I think you need more arrows on the thumbnail i didn't notice the creature

[@Chrischi3TutorialLPs]

The oculus and eyefish not being closely related despite looking similar is possible, just think about how many species we see evolving the same traits independently, convergent evolution is a thing ya know?

[@ramoneramirez2762]

I think the reason alot of the fish in the game look so different is because their was a mass extinction in the story

[@Skronk93]

I feel like we just don't get enough in depth biology to judge how realistic they are. Looking at just the external anatomy with get you nowhere on earth and it should not be expected to help in fictional worlds either.

[@thedairylord7861]

Maybe the oculus is related to the peeper but has different way of feeding Idk after all we still have a lot to discover of these odd creatures

[@Laika_in_Space]

Awesome video!

[@mr.piggly5884]

HOVERFISH IS A LEVIATHAN CONFIRMED

[@petersmythe6462]

Perhaps the Oculus is NOT a relative of the Peeper but some kind of mimic or convergence or both?

[@marxtheenigma873]

The crash fish is an interesting idea, but I don't like it. It explodes at you if you get too close. Often without you even seeing it. But it dies then. It should at least make sure the potential predator is even aware that it is there and make some show to try to get it to back off before the mutually assured destruction thing. I instead imagine it as a lifeform that explodes on purpose in order to spread its spores or something on a food source for them.

[@SirAroace]

Another point to be made is that 4546b has gone threw ta extinction event relatively recently

[@houselemuellan8756]

Maybe some of the alien fish that would fill in the gaps got extinct? That could explain the inconsistencies right? I mean, the alien virus thing exists

[@jack-xp7qk]

the sandshark has the centipede like legs to help it crawl under the sand

[@Phrenotopia]

Yes, I reckoned as much. Thanks for watching!

[@holyherrerasaurus5728]

but consider this, peepers and oculus are in two different areas on the map with both different predators and most likely food therefore they would different ways of eating and avoiding being eaten so possibly a group of proto peepers were swept down deep and had to evolve diffrently but still share traits this could the same reason for the bone/sand sharks differences

[@SpookyEggs]

hunter foss yes, but I don't think the two sharks are even slightly related, I feel as the confusion for these two species is that they're named to be cool and not so much practically, kinda like how we call kolas koala bears even though they're not.

[@abyssstrider2547]

You are forgetting that in game lore references to creatures from subnautice evolve quickly, in just 800 years creatures changed so much that they bear no semblance to the ones long ago, even generations should look noticeably different by lore. Yeaaaah...

[@theotherasianguy8249]

Hey Phrenotopia. About the first creature you called a Frankestein fusion, I was wondering if you took convergent evolution into consideration. Because I think it's very plausible that a seaslug like creature could evolve into a ray like animal. I mean there's already a seaslug that swims and looks like a fish. The Phylliroe for example.

[@SnowPaw404]

I loved the music

[@twinssouls1682]

You forgot about concept arts of old creature in subnautica including 2 giant skeleton in the bone feilds. Great video!!!👌

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks! I will try to gather more information for the followup...

[@antonioscendrategattico2302]

You know, if the devs took notice of this video they would probably be able to create some interesting and even more realistic fauna for Below Zero.

[@jessegartung294]

Maybe they were inspired by Lovecraft instead.

[@MrBlack0950]

So alot of this lack of homogeny is mostly because 1) the devs aren't spec evo fanatics, and 2) these are post mass extinction ecosystems, so these are the remnants of numerous clades, which are probably very distantly related, and thus the few remaining species lack any tangible linkages. Its like if the whole ecosystem was made up of relic species like platypuses, their common ancestors were millions of years ago and there used to be alot more variety in each clade, but most of those got wiped out

[@Felahliir]

The progenitors have brought quite a few species from other planets with them and created others like the Leviathans.

[@brunobecker1822]

That's a great video! But you could use the information on the PDA, there's probably a lot of good information. And the Oculus does have mouth! It just doesn't have beak, since it feeds on the jellyshroom. If you do a second video, please use the creatures from below zero two! I feel it would result on a richer analysis

[@Phrenotopia]

Thanks for the info! This video was made way back when they're was much less info available. The problem is that a followup has become a daunting task.

[@CateSabol]

Wait the hole fish is the first creature you see And the oculus and peeper are related because the oculus is a evolved version of the peeper

[@skf1938]

Wil you make a second vdeo when the extention will be realised ?

[@Phrenotopia]

If I find the time, I would love to!

[@ASlickNamedPimpback]

did you just call a cleaner shrimp a prawn i-

[@danthiel8623]

Very nice