Questions tagged [symbiosis]

For questions about the biological relationships between two organisms living in close proximity. Symbiosis colloquially describes a relationship that is mutually beneficial (mutualism) but scientifically, it also includes relationships in which only one organism benefits (commensalism) or where one organism benefits and the other is harmed (parasitism). Most questions with this tag pertain to the first definition.

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19 votes
12 answers
5k views

How can we cool a computer connected on top of or within a human brain?

Assume the ability to cybernetically implant a powerful enough computer to operate an AI inside the human skull, on top of or within the brain. Thin wires connect the computer to the various parts of ...
9 votes
5 answers
2k views

How can my alien symbiotes identify each other?

My aliens are little symbiotes (think Venom from Spider-Man) who appear to be like crown-of-thorns starfish when not attached to a host. They have general mimicry and camouflage similar to an octopus ...
6 votes
3 answers
253 views

How to stop Jimmy’s (self-conscious) limbs from rebelling?

So Jimmy (the collective name for his brains) has this one-in-a-handwavium-amount blessing/curse. Instead of one central brain, his head, each arm, each leg, and his torso have independently ...
4 votes
2 answers
97 views

Could a photosynthetic plant form a symbosis with fish in an oceanic environement to get nutriets from the sea bed?

On Earth their are thousands of animals with symbiosis with plants such as honey bees and flowers. However for this question I'm focusing on a very specific kind the one that leaf-cutter ants have ...
4 votes
6 answers
325 views

Psychological Consequences of a Symbiotic Relationship with a Sentient Symbiont that was supposed to be Consensual, but was not?

PREMISE: A sentient race of neural parasites is in a civil war between the Symbiotes, who've used their extensive knowledge of genetic engineering to alter themselves into symbiotes, and the Parasites ...
  • 1,477
2 votes
5 answers
223 views

Igniting a biological H$_2$ fueled pulse jet engine?

A squid-like organism uses gravity powered flight but relies on jet propulsion for launch, pouncing, and evasive tactics. It’s aerodynamically based on the way a true squid flies however it has ...
  • 7,005
4 votes
3 answers
157 views

How long would a species have to have this brain symbiote to prevent early puberty?

So, a race of sapient aliens I designed for a series of short stories owes its sapience in part to a symbiote which lives in their brains and produces hormones that induce the brain to grow faster and ...
2 votes
4 answers
300 views

What type of organism should these brain symbiotes be? [closed]

So, I'm designing A species of sapient extraterrestrials for a series of short stories, and I've decided it would add flavour if they relied on a species of symbiotic organism to enhance their ...
6 votes
3 answers
718 views

Could alien microorganisms "infect" our own microbiome clouds and then "pollinate" us?

I'm trying to make my idea make sense. I wanted to create an parasitic/symbiotic alien species which reproduces/breeds by air or touch, which they are unaware of. They do not understand why their ...
  • 307
1 vote
1 answer
272 views

Can a symbiotic alien species reproduce like a virus through pollinated microscopic microbiomes clouds?

Working on a story of an alien body-snatcher invasion type of story. Basically this is a parasitic symbiotic species that evolved to reproduce through their own microbiome cloud by air and touch. ...
  • 307
12 votes
3 answers
336 views

What Benefits Could Tongue-eating Lice Have For Mermaids

Well, after asking Would mermaids be affected by tongue-eating lice evolving alongside them?, I realized they would be a worthy addition to a more monstrous subspecies of mermaid. There's only one ...
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6 votes
2 answers
115 views

In which kind of enviroment the frogs' "multiple legs parasite" could turn symbiotic?

There is a parasite which make different amphibians specially frogs and toads to get multiple extra limbs during the transition from tadpole to adult. The objetive of the parasite is to harm the host'...
  • 2,617
5 votes
3 answers
148 views

How a living prosthetic would work?

This is a little bit hard to explain concept, practically some like a kind of symbiosis in which two organisms evolve together one get transport, almost free nutrients and relative security and the ...
  • 2,617
0 votes
2 answers
89 views

Could these species create complex technology together? [closed]

On an alien world there are 4 species: The networkers are slow-moving herbivores capable of speech. They have very loud, deep voices, allowing them to speak over long distances The sparklers are ...
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3 votes
3 answers
117 views

What sort of Life Form could my Creature Excrete to Make Its own Habitat?

Concept: An organism that through its natural biological processes excretes some form of microscopic life that spreads through an environment by breaking down organic (and maybe inorganic) matter and ...
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0 votes
1 answer
139 views

how would a "Flesh Forest" work? [closed]

I have an Idea for a strange Biome called a Flesh Forest. A Flesh Forest Is an ever expanding mat of flesh ,IT has several plant like structures growing out of it that possess Teeth .the entire mat is ...
5 votes
1 answer
230 views

Are Aeroplankton a feasible food source?

On an Earth-like planet, you would assume oceanic plankton and terrestrial microorganisms would exist. But, could there be plankton in the sky? While there are certainly nutrients floating through the ...
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3 votes
6 answers
1k views

Can a person use plants instead of blood, and what would the consequences of this be? [duplicate]

I have been brainstorming an idea for a kind of human-plant symbiosis, in which a plant has either evolved or been modified to photosynthesize with heat instead of light. This plant may have evolved ...
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14 votes
5 answers
3k views

Could a fungus fuse itself to a living creature and how could the creature pass this on?

Behold, a crocodile. The only thing that they have to worry about is hunger when they cannot catch a meal, and camouflage that is better than the eyes of their prey. What if a species of mushroom ...
-1 votes
1 answer
104 views

Which fantasy races would work well together in a kind of symbiosis? [closed]

I've been reading through a lot of questions re various races strengths and weaknesses in battle and social organisation & it made me think that there would be quite a few areas where different ...
3 votes
2 answers
238 views

What benefits would a symbiotic relationship with an algae provide to the host? [closed]

In the story I'm writing, Goblins have evolved a symbiotic relationship with a type of algae which grows in their skin. I was wondering - what kinds of biological benefits would a symbiotic ...
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7 votes
2 answers
216 views

Help cooling living H$_2$ fueled pulse jet engine

A squid-like organism uses gravity powered flight but relies on jet propulsion for launch, pouncing, and evasive tactics. It’s aerodynamically based on the way a true squid flies however it has ...
  • 7,005
3 votes
5 answers
276 views

Designing a symbiotic fungus that could cause a worldwide pandemic

Just for clarification: when I say "designing", I mean just coming up with the idea of this fungus, as opposed to it being "designed" by humans. I've been very interested in fungi ever since finding ...
  • 1,271
11 votes
2 answers
300 views

Symbiotic barnacles for underwater respiration

My world has two races of mammalian mermen, one of which are somewhat monstrous and I'll call them "Abyssals" in this thread. I really want the Abyssals to 'breathe' underwater, as well as being able ...
15 votes
5 answers
585 views

Symbiotic Assassin Vines

I have an idea for an encounter in my world that goes like this... A weary group of adventurers are trekking through a great ancient forest. This forest is avoided by most due to strange tales of ...
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1 vote
2 answers
383 views

What could be a physiological downside of a permanently bonded symbiotic life-form that alters the host in profound physical ways? [closed]

PREMISE: A symbiotic lifeform permanently bonds with its host and radically transforms the host organism. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Imagine a symbiotic life form like the [Klyntar](http://marvel ....
6 votes
5 answers
1k views

Human-fungus symbiotic species

Researching a lot about fantasy, I've always had interest of mushroom humanoids, but I wanted to put my own twist on them. Instead of sentient mushrooms, I wanted to have a humanoid species infected ...
  • 909
7 votes
2 answers
445 views

How could this flora/fauna symbiosis work?

I'm building an alien world for an artistic project. The world circles an m-dwarf star, and so the flora have evolved to photosynthesize longer wavelengths of light than on Earth, primarily in the ...
  • 1,100
46 votes
11 answers
8k views

Is it possible for two symbiotic lifeforms to be born from the same egg?

Firstly, I'm not looking for an organism that gives birth to two separate species (like a human that gave birth to a human baby and a puppy) as I'm fairly sure that is impossible (though feel free to ...
  • 12.6k
13 votes
4 answers
656 views

Creating a plausible death world

Could a planet's biosphere be as insanely violent a la War Against the Chtorr or Fragment? Pretty much every organism, even the plants, is omnivorous and voracious. The two biggest obstacles to this ...
  • 7,270
4 votes
6 answers
256 views

Is it possible for facultative symbiosis between a large non-sentient organism and a smaller sentient organism?

Specifically, I would like to know how a land or sea based large island (Isle of Wight size-ish) size non sentient organism could be home to a society of much smaller people sized sentient organisms.
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25 votes
16 answers
3k views

Symbiotic benefits for large sentient bio-machine

I’m working on a setting, and have a state I want to achieve but need to come up with a compelling reason for why it is the way it is (even if no one but me ever knows the ‘why’.) I’m after a reasoned,...
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