In a message dated 12/8/2000 5:28:26 PM Alaskan Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< >This has a strange relevance to Europa, however. If life exists in the
>Europan ocean, it's likely to be living in a low energy environment where
>competition is unlikely to be widespread. Unlike most people, therefore,
>i don't rule out the possibility of really large life forms there; but
>would still expect them to be expect them to be extremely primitive....
>
It should be pointed out, however, that multicellular organisms never
evolved on Earth at all until the evolution of photosynthesis provided them
with a much more efficient energy supply -- so it still seems overwhelmingly
likely that all Europan life will be single-celled unless large amounts of
photosynthesis are possible in water pockets or cracks very close to the
surface (and that is an extremely big "if").
A giant Europan jellyfish might be the prototype, then. Something large
enough to be able to absorb energy across a broad area (say, 1 km across).
Freezing or ice shifts might only kill off a section of it, quickly
regenerated. All speculative of course. Probably lousy eating.
(And, by the way, there's a surprising amount on the weta available on the
Web -- it turns out to be a huge cricket. Apparently its maximum length is
90 mm, though -- which, I think, is still somewhat smaller than the African
Goliath beetle and maybe one or two other huge insect species as well.) >>
There's a similar cricket in Mexico. When I lived in Northern Mexico (the
Sonoran desert) I often saw immense 4" crickets creeping across the roads.
Very brightly colored, they were so slow I often wondered how they could
survive cars and predators. I still say that in order to be competitive,
they'd need O2 supercharging.
Same goes for dragonflies. I'd think they would simply need thicker air to
supply loft to those inefficient wings.
Could the pterosaurs have been their end? I dunno... because in the
transition interim from developing from hoppers to flyers, wouldn't they
still be easy meat for those 2' dragonflies? Dragonflies are, after all,
voracious predators, with jaws that can chew up insects far larger than they
are.
-- JHB
==
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