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For many creature design ideas with based on science inspiration, their biology requires a way to produce high pressions into their body with the aim of pressurizing gases or containing some other substances in a specific state, that otherwise could not be used. For example in some answers of How could I scientifically explain ice breath?, How a living creature could produce "bio" aerogel? and Could a living creature produce graphene?, could be required preserve determined material at high pressure either to increase the temperature or prevent it from evaporating or or in fact it may be that the advantage of the great internal pressure is to release it to expel some material with great force.

The point is that many of these creatures require the ability to generate great internal pressure in some organ to carry out their almost fanciful capacities, a characteristic that is not explained in sufficient detail in their original publications.

So, how a living creature could develop to have into its body an specialized part to generate high pressures, and keep them for a relatively long time and then release this pressure with whatever material has been stored at will?

Edit. For more information I want to be based in the ice breath of 56 atm for keep CO2 liquid at 20 °C, so for temperature variations I think 100 atm is the superior limit for this. But also I would like a pressure in which the required supercritic state for aerogel production could appear, but I dont know which is the required pressure for this, I will assume that is the same as water 22-26 atm but I dont really know.

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    $\begingroup$ How high is high? One atmosphere, two, ten, one hundred, one thousand, one hundred thousand? Without a numeric goal engineers cannot work. And, in parallel, in what environment does the creature live? For example, the bodies of abyssal fishes naturally contain fluids under high pressure... $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Mar 7, 2021 at 1:56
  • $\begingroup$ @AlexP. I want to be based in the ice breath 56 atm for keep CO2 liquid at 20 °C, so for temperature variations I think 100 atm is the superior limit for this. But also I would like a pressure in which the required supercritic state for aerogel production could appear, but I dont know which is the required pressure for this, I will assume that is the same as water 22-26 atm but I dont really know. $\endgroup$
    – Drakio-X
    Commented Mar 7, 2021 at 2:02
  • $\begingroup$ @AlexP. The enviroment is assumed using the other questions, principally terrestrial for "dragons" (as wild card), but if a deep envirement is the only one solution I will accept it. $\endgroup$
    – Drakio-X
    Commented Mar 7, 2021 at 2:06
  • $\begingroup$ It seems intuitively obvious. High pressures are created by muscular contraction. This isn't long enough for a formal answer. The muscles in our esophagus contract to create a high pressure to force food down. $\endgroup$
    – Justin Thyme the Second
    Commented Mar 7, 2021 at 16:59

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how a living creature could develop to have into its body an specialized part to generate high pressures, and keep them for a relatively long time and then release this pressure with whatever material has been stored at will?

Allow me to introduce you the squirting cucumber

Ecballium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cucurbitaceae containing a single species, Ecballium elaterium, also called the squirting cucumber or exploding cucumber (but not to be confused with Cyclanthera brachystachya). It gets its unusual name from the fact that, when ripe, it squirts a stream of mucilaginous liquid containing its seeds, which can be seen with the naked eye. It is thus considered to have rapid plant movement.

The tissue in the fruit of the Ecballium elaterium that surrounds the seed is thin walled. The pressure to release the seed is created by the increased concentration of glucoside and elaterinidin in low volumes of cytoplasm. This creates an osmotic pressure of up to 27 atms. The pressure building method also seems to rely on the phloem sieve tubes. This also means that the shooting mechanism can be decreased in water stressed conditions.

The fruit also utilizes hygroscopic movement in order to shoot the seeds out of the fruit. This method is done passively where the fruit changes its structure when it dies and tension is relieved in the dead tissue, causing movement. This movement can be due to coiling, bending, or twisting cells that increases its morphological shape as the cell dries. Because dying cells are mostly made up of cell wall, the shape will be determined by the shape of the cell wall. This is a method of self-dispersal.

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  • $\begingroup$ Yep, any ordinary fish with a swim bladder can also be taken as an example of this already existing in nature, insects that spit acid or other juices from their abdomen as well, the bombardier beetle springs to mind, he wants pressure organs, they already exist, going from any of those to stronger ones is no leap at all. $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented Mar 7, 2021 at 14:32
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Humans can do it - You can do it!

It's called air-swallowing. People do this when they deliberately want to burp. It does not require use of the lungs.

AIR BLOAT CHALLENGE | MASSIVE GUT & BURP (Video)

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Close your mouth pinch your nose & breath out, ribs squeeze in compressing air in lungs that can't escape, yep, that'll do it, when I do it the high pressure air leaks out around my eye balls though, but a bit of superglue should fix that ;D $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented Mar 7, 2021 at 14:26
  • $\begingroup$ @Pelinore - If this is humour, I don't get the joke. If it is a criticism, I dont get it either. Could you explain? Clearly this activity is possible, anyone can do it. It makes use of the Upper Esophagal Sphincter (which can be relaxed under conscious control). P.S. Nose-holding is not necessary. You can do it without. I think he uses it to speed up his technique or maybe he is being theatrical.. $\endgroup$
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Mar 7, 2021 at 14:37
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    $\begingroup$ It's humour, other than that I'm agreeing with you (gulp air in pinch off the normal exits as he is in the photo & push down with your ribs aka .'breath out'), & when I do it the air really does squirt out around my eyes (just don't open your mouth to belch & keep up the pressure on your lungs), please tell me you've seen someone 'cry' milk before? this is how you do it. $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented Mar 7, 2021 at 14:41
  • $\begingroup$ @Pelinore - Okay, I'll take your word for it (without trying it!). I know that I personally can swallow air without pinching my nose and the only place I feel pressure is in my Esophagus. I don't think I'll try the milk squirting trick at my advanced age! $\endgroup$
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Mar 7, 2021 at 14:44
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    $\begingroup$ @Drakio-X - I am not suggesting it. I should have explain that evolution can allow such features to appear over time from small beginnings. My answer is incomplete. I might complete it or I might delete it. There are creatures who have developed this sort of ability to an extreme. i.cbc.ca/1.1671193.1379080310!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/… $\endgroup$
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Mar 7, 2021 at 22:47

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