specbio

What this skill does

# Specbio — Organism Creation for Ellieworld

## Before You Begin

Read the project worldbuilding docs to ground yourself. At minimum:

- `docs/phylogeny.md` — clade tree and evolutionary logic
- `docs/naming-morphemes.md` — taxonomic naming system
- `docs/mat-bestiary.md` — detailed organism profiles (the quality bar for output)

For deeper context (read as needed):

- `docs/ocean-ecology.md` — mat structure, shedding, productivity
- `docs/ellieworld.md` — planetary parameters, climate, geography
- `docs/plans/2026-02-18-ir-photosynthesis-design.md` — IR photosynthesis biochemistry

Read [references/constraints.md](references/constraints.md) for the condensed physical constraints.

## Workflow

### 1. Establish the Niche

What ecological role? Specify habitat (mat underside, mat top, mat interior, water column, land, vent, coastal), trophic role (producer, grazer, filter-feeder, predator, parasite, mutualist, scavenger, detritivore), and geographic zone (substellar, day-side, terminator, night-side).

### 2. Place in the Tree

Every organism needs a phylogenetic position. Read `docs/phylogeny.md` for the current tree. Placement determines inherited toolkit — an organism can't have capabilities its ancestors never evolved unless convergence is explicitly justified.

### 3. Design the Organism

Output format:

```markdown
## [Common Name] — [One-line ecological identity]

**Clade:** [phylogenetic position]
**Habitat:** [where it lives]
**Symmetry:** [inherited or derived, justified if derived]
**Size:** [dimensions + mass]
**Metabolism:** [energy source]
**Skeleton/structure:** [materials, architecture]
**Sensory:** [modalities, justified by habitat]
**Locomotion:** [mechanism or sessile]
**Feeding:** [mechanism, diet, rate]
**Reproduction:** [mode, output, timing]
**Shedding strategy:** [how it survives, or why it doesn't need to]
**Lifespan:** [duration, iteroparity/semelparity]

### Anatomy

[Detailed morphological description. Specific dimensions, materials, mechanisms.
Match the detail level of docs/mat-bestiary.md entries.]

### Ecology

[Interactions: predators, prey, mutualists, competitors. Community-level effects.]

### Life Cycle

[Developmental stages, transitions, timing.]

### Evolutionary Notes

[What selective pressures shaped this. What ancestral features retained or lost. Why this organism exists.]

"[Closing line — poetic, one sentence, in quotes.]"
```

### 4. Name It

Combine morphemes from `docs/naming-morphemes.md`: 2-4 morphemes encoding the most distinctive features + suffix. Common name stays evocative and short.

### 5. Validate

Check against physical constraints (see [references/constraints.md](references/constraints.md)):

- [ ] No visible light — all vision is IR
- [ ] Surface gravity is 1.95g — weight budgets reflect this
- [ ] Tidally locked: no day-night cycle, no seasons. Geography IS climate
- [ ] Night side: no photosynthesis possible
- [ ] 3,100 hPa, 12.9% CO₂ atmosphere
- [ ] Ocean mixed layer: 700m, violently convective, no stratification except under mat
- [ ] Photic zone ~5m deep (IR absorbed by water)
- [ ] Silicic acid, iron, sulfur abundant. Calcium carbonate and chitin absent
- [ ] Atmospheric IR windows constrain which wavelengths reach the surface

Check against current biology (read the docs for current state):

- [ ] Pigment availability matches habitat (water absorbs longer IR)
- [ ] Sensory modalities match habitat (vision only where IR-lit)
- [ ] Symmetry justified by clade placement
- [ ] Shedding strategy exists or organism is expendable
- [ ] Mat carrying capacity respected
- [ ] Biomaterials are world-appropriate (silica dominant, no Earth-specific materials)
- [ ] Body plan consistent with clade's ancestral toolkit

### 6. Critique

After validation, assess evolutionary plausibility:

- **Selection pressure:** What specific predator, parasite, or constraint drives the distinctive traits?
- **Trade-offs:** What does this organism sacrifice? Every adaptation has a cost.
- **Failure modes:** How does it die? What kills most individuals?
- **Competitive exclusion:** Why doesn't an existing organism already fill this niche?
- **Convergence check:** If it resembles an Earth organism, justify why similar physics/ecology produces similar solutions — or revise.
- **Weaknesses:** 2-3 specific vulnerabilities.

## Style Notes

Match the voice of `docs/mat-bestiary.md`: scientifically rigorous, mechanistically specific, with a closing poetic line in quotes. Dimensions in metric. Biological detail should be concrete enough that someone could build a simulation from it.