Gourmetica Insularis | |
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A Gourmetica Insularis | |
General Information | |
Habitat: | Zamonian Sea |
Abilities: | Transforming itself into a paradisaic island |
Diet: | Only highly developed mammals |
Physical Information | |
Average height: | Depending on sea level |
Extremities: | One stem |
From the
Encyclopedia of Marvels, Life Forms and Other Phenomena of Zamonia and its Environs
by Professor Abdullah Nightingale
Gourmetica Insularis, The. The Gourmetica Insularis is a heterotrophic carnivorous plant, that is to say, one of the very rare family of plants that feeds on organic rather than inorganic matter, like most flora. The Gourmetica is among the Zamonian life forms that attract their quarry in an unsportsmanlike manner, being related to the much smaller Venus flytrap and the equally rare →Spiderwitch. It is capable of transforming itself into a kind of floating paradise in order to lure and fatten its prey in the most ingenious way. A mature Gourmetica can attain a circumference of several miles but needs only 300 pounds [live weight] of fresh meat, or thereabouts, to feed itself for a year. This must be provided by one or more of the highly developed mammals, however, because fish or birds will not do. The Gourmetica is firmly anchored to the seabed - a blessing on Nature's part, when one considers what havoc a mobile carnivorous plant of this order could wreak in a heavily populated seaside town.