My fantasy world of Algennon has several “Pudding” class monsters-(one of which is the Peasouper) -slimy slug creatures with natural weapons. One type is the Licorice Pudding. This monster has tentacles all all over its body, and these tentacles lay flat for the most part. But when anything gets too close, the Pudding raises its tentacles and shocks the poor, unsuspecting creature to death. It then devours the charred remains. I’m wondering, can this creature exist, based on Earth’s creature-design standards?
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2$\begingroup$ Exist where? In your world, I'd say yes, we don't know what your world restrictions are : If it's very close to reality or a place of wonders and magic 🪄. In the real-world, I don't know, as we don't know its exact size, its electric lethality, where it tries to hide, how and when, etc... $\endgroup$– TortlienaJan 5 at 16:11
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2$\begingroup$ Hello Jobah. In the future, please remember that questions like "can X exist?" are a bit odd to ask here. In your imaginary world, the answer is always yes. There's never a question of the creature existing, there's only the question of what rules you need to rationalize its existence. I quite like @Daron's answer because he's showing you examples of terrestrial creatures that you can use to rationalize your creatures. In that regard, a better way to ask a question like this is, "are there Earth creatures like mine I can use to improve my creature's believablity?" $\endgroup$– JBHJan 5 at 16:54
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1$\begingroup$ Can X exit with only the vaguest description of X are even worse, how big is your slime, where does it live, what kind of anatomy does it need to have?, minus electricity you basically just described echinoderms. $\endgroup$– JohnJan 5 at 21:57
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1 Answer
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Sure
This monster combines traits from several real animals. It is more believable than the peasouper.
Electric
Electric shock superpowers have already evolved in the electric eel
Your pudding shocks things the same way. Its shock powers have the same drawbacks as the electric eel. Namely it runs out of juice after one shock.
Camoflague
Like the crab shown below, the pudding is camoflagued by the plants that grows on top of it.
Since the pudding is squishy the plants can extend their roots inside the pudding's bodies. When flattened with the tentacles retracted inside the body like a snails' the pudding looks like any old clump of moss.
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$\begingroup$ Cool, but where did the thing about Camouflage come from? $\endgroup$ Jan 5 at 17:18
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$\begingroup$ @Jobah_HigherMind "can mimic their surroundings well," $\endgroup$– DaronJan 5 at 21:50