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I was thinking, and I came up with an alien race, which enthralled me. I was just wondering if these creatures would plausibly evolve this way. (Info dump time

These aliens are humanoid. While they possess two arms like humans, they have two or four tentacle-like appendages. These come out of the sides of their body similar to extra arms. These tentacles are about two inches thick and end in a flat disk-like Palm. Attached to each palm are five equidistantly spaced fingers. However, these tentacles are not very strong.

The tentacles are capable of producing electric shocks of about as much as an electric eel. Possibly a little less. Also, this species sees a lot more of the light spectrum than humans, but doesn't have as much range.

These creatures are also hairless, slightly translucent, and have a very large amount of pigments (skin and eyes). They are bioluminescent, and their skin tints their luminescence. They have no nails, and their feet don't have individual toes. (The fingers on their non-electric arms are tough.)

EDIT

I previously said that other than what's mentioned above, these creatures are like humans. However, these creatures produce eggs, so females I'll have their differences...

What kind of environment would support these creatures and their adaptations? For instance, would they hunt mostly water creatures using their electric appendages? What kind of creature would prey on this species? If a few aspects are damaging to the survival for this race and have no logical explanation, feel free to mention it. Also, I think this species likely evolved from an electric fish or amphibian, so keep that in mind.

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  • $\begingroup$ Good question! I have one minor suggestion: you might want to re-think using "humanoid". "Humanoid" doesn't have an undisputed definition, but most definitions I've read would exclude species with 2-4 electric tentacles, flat disc palms, etc. It's up to you of course, I'm just afraid that "humanoid" might put the wrong image in people's minds. (Or maybe it's the right image, and I've just interpreted your text wrong!) $\endgroup$
    – type_outcast
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 23:55
  • $\begingroup$ @type_outcast They are bipedal, and have two human like arms. Now add the tentacles attached to their sides below their arms. The alien is humanoid in that it is bipedal and has two main arms and a head. The main two arms are for manipulating hints like humans, and the tentacle thingies are for electrical purposes and possibly a few other things, but they're not that strong. $\endgroup$
    – Xandar The Zenon
    Commented Jan 11, 2016 at 0:42
  • $\begingroup$ Understood. Like I said, mine was a minor suggestion to your good question. If you're satisfied with your usage of "humanoid", that's absolutely fine! The extra description you gave is helpful, as well. $\endgroup$
    – type_outcast
    Commented Jan 11, 2016 at 0:58
  • $\begingroup$ Such fingers could be used for catching small prey from mud or muddy water. You might be able to also communicate by touch or water (if say toes have similar adaptation and you stand in water). $\endgroup$
    – Ville Niemi
    Commented Jan 11, 2016 at 2:28
  • $\begingroup$ Good idea, they could use a kind of morse code with differing strengths of electrical signals.mtheir bioluminescence could aid in this, too. $\endgroup$
    – Xandar The Zenon
    Commented Jan 11, 2016 at 2:58

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What kind of environment would support these creatures and their adaptations? The humanoid body form suggests that they evolved as land dwelling creatures. Two long legs for running, two strong arms for climbing, an upright posture and a head to raise the sensory organs above waist-level obstacles; all of this points towards your creature being a land dweller. The fact that, on Earth, electrical offensive capabilities only evolved among water dwellers, does not rule out their possible development on land.

I also think it would be a dark world because their heavy skin pigments would help them hide in the dark, and their (hopefully controllable) bio-luminescence will help them function when not in danger.

What kind of creature would prey on this species? The absence of nails (vestigial claws) and the presence of electrical offenses would probably be mirrored in the major predators of your alien's home world. Larger, faster and stupider, these carnivores (or maybe electrovores) have to challenge the survival of their smaller prey, to encourage that prey to evolve intelligence.

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  • $\begingroup$ I approve of this answer. If it was a dark, swamp world, then they could signal to each other their location, they would live on land, and fish with electricity. +1 $\endgroup$
    – Xandar The Zenon
    Commented Jan 11, 2016 at 2:55

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