Ephemeral Ecology

An extremely small but extremely common Blish forms the basis for a varied food chain

Ephemerals are a genus of several closely related but physically distinct Hummingbird Blish, usually a light cream color with various reds and purples they are found across the forests and tundra throughout the summer months. They evolved from the Slime Slurper and like them are tiny animals weighing in at only 3 grams and measuring 7 Centimeters these almost insect-like Blish live for only 1 year dying at the onset of winter. Despite their well, Ephemeral lifespan by numbers their the most common Blish on Pangea 2 with numbers in the breeding season swarming to 3 billion their swarms descending from the sky like a cream-colored fog.

Above: The Ruby-Throated Ephemeral is one of the 6 species that pass threw the Tundra in the summer and the most common by numbers.

Ephemerals feed on the slime produced by the Lichen Trees and their Absorbant Sucker symbionts acting as the main pollinator for both as well as the flowers of the coastal forest. Their tounges are long and almost nerveless to avoid the stinging spines of the slime they feed on. Feeding exclusively liquid Ephemerals excrete it extremely fast with the liquid passing through their body within half an hour as Ephemerals can convert sugar to energy making it impossible for them to store that. Ephemerals take part in multigenerational migrations swarms moving to and from east and west passing through the Tundra where Absorbent Suckers are most common before landing on the opposite coast to breed.

As such common Blish Ephemerals have many enemies indeed many Raptorial Blish will take the opportunity to pluck them from their massive swarms as well as many falling victim to Absinthes predatory Slime Molds evolved from the Fregrant Sucker. However, with Ephemerals being a near-limitless wall of food it’s no surprise that they have more specialized predators that hunt almost nothing else when their swarms reach their climax.

Above: A Treesbane breaks into a group of Ephemerals nests

One of the most unique Predators of the Ephemerals is the Treesbane a housecat-sized genus of Linlolligo specialized in hunting Smaller prey. Most of the time Treesbanes spend their time hunting in the trees not much changed behaviorally from their ancestor, shy and elusive it feeds on generally small prey insects, grubs, and Blish eggs, and Squirdel young digging its prey out from their hiding places with a pair of elongated protrusions from its beak which can often create large wounds to appear on trees were they Treesbane stripe them of bark.

However, once every other year for a few months they are able to gorge themselves on Ephemeral eggs laid in slime-incrusted pits in the holes of trees which the Treesbane is excellent at breaking through with their beak as well as the numerous dying adults after the eggs are laid.

During these periods of gluttony, Treesbane may eat through several dozen nests although this hardly affects the overall population of the Ephemerals population with how great their numbers are. These periods of glut also create booms in the Treesbane population as the rush of easy protein encourages them to breed and the surplus of food results in larger litter sizes.

Much like Lynxs with rabbits once the supply of Ephemerals runs out it causes the population of Treesbane to drop dramatically as many of the newly independent young will not survive the suddenly much harsher environment they find themselves in. Treesbane population thus always fluctuates from much higher to lower than what would be normal for an animal of their size.

Above: A Sqerboa ambush's a lone Lavender Throated Ephemeral Vergrandivolans purpuraiugulum

During their yearly migrations over the Tundra, the Ephemerals have many animals that feed on them here two. Sqerboas are Squid Rodents closely related to the arboreal Squirdel. With the recent domination of the Burrowing Jaws in fossorial environments Sqerboa have recently returned to the surface. The Sqerboa evolved from ancestors that predominantly used their back pairs of legs for digging and pushing themselves through burrows.

The back legs of the Sqerboa once used for digging are now used for carrying it across open Tundra grasslands powerful leg tendons let the Sqerboa perform unmatched vertical leaps up to 6 feet in the air for an animal the size of a rodent and a balancing tail, the longest tail of any Tera Squid.

Sqerboa are insectivores leaping out of the grass and grabbing their prey with their first 3 pairs of legs although they readily hunt Ephemerals when they come through the Tundra during their migrations their stripped green skin and small height concealing them among the grass

Sqerboa are the only Tera Squid capable of "Bipedalism" as their shortened front legs are able to be carried off the ground for periods of time in a bird-like stance although true bipedalism is extremely unlikely for animals with ancestral 8 walking legs and the way the Tera Squids center of gravity is positioned.

Not all animals use the Ephemerals as a source of food for one they are used as a compass and a guide for them to follow on their own migrations.

Above: A pair of Sqaribou follow a flock of Ephemerals on their migration.

Sqaribou are the largest and most elaborate grassland-dwelling Superstars that have left the forests the group first evolved in to join the Squeezebra in open environments. These open-habitat Superstars have the most extreme sexual dimorphism of any Tera Squid with males sporting almost ridiculous-looking horns that once flushed with Chromatophores create dizzying bright displays to attract mates. These horns are so large that they slow down the males running speeds. Because of this handicap from their horns, the population of mature males is naturally very low with mature bulls surprising younger ones from developing the full-colored horns and red eyes of mature bulls with younger males only being able to mature when one of the older males in the herd dies.

Sqaribou live in massive migratory herds of thousands migrating across the vast grasslands and polar regions. Herds often follow the swarms of Ephemerals across the Tundra as the Ichthyopterans' migratory patterns coincide with where the fresh grass grows and thus can signal to the Sqaribou when its time to leave an area and move on to another

Well, Ephemerals have many predators their numbers are so large that the amount of them cut down by predators is far smaller than the amount of young that the billion-strong swarms can produce and the Ephemerals continue to swarm in flocks not seen in Chordates since the golden age of birds some 230MYH.

However, a storm is coming on the horizon much like how the Passenger Pigeon population was culled from 4 million to complete extinction a new threat will make the Ephemerals predators miss the massive swarms that once were.

It's like they say Absinthe makes the heart fonder