>>5404263>>5404283>>5404327>>5404339>>5404372>>5404439>>5404509>>5404524>>5404553>A Flounder Feeder drifts under the ice sheets, briefly taking refuge from the merciless Fumble Eaters. It swims like its ancestors have for untold millennia. Beneath its blubber, a tiny brain has been riddled with tumors and what little neural architecture remains is unable to communicate.The Flounder Feeders have further refined their radiotrophy and are taking in an additional two percent of their nutrition on average. Their external shell cancer has declined slightly more, due to the inefficiency of the filtering process, but alongside that decline an unforeseen complication has arisen. Unlike other organs, the brain is only vestigial on an offspring’s birth and grows to reach its full size, weight, and function well-before sexual maturity. The rapid speed of growth vastly increases the risk of cancer during the critical first two weeks and despite their protective cartilage keeping the majority of radiation away from their internals, a minority is enough for such a sensitive organ, and close to eighty percent of Flounder Feeders have had their brains replaced by a tumor two Terran months into their lifespan. Luckily, they have ancient instincts to fall back on and the brain isn’t essential to the remainder of their organs’ function. Unluckily, the natural caloric sink remains for minimal benefit and the brain tumor occasionally metastasizes into explosive growth, burdening its Flounder Feeder and eventually killing them. Overall, this has cut down the Flounder Feeder’s lifespan by one and a half local weeks, or two Terran months. The Flounder Feeder population has dropped.
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