Beneath Alien Waves

[rust]

The setting I am currently working on is a colony on water world in the "Ho-
norverse" of David Weber's books.

The biosphere of this planet has been destroyed by a "nearby" supernova ex-
plosion, and the colonists are now re-building a viable biosphere by introdu-
cing various marine creatures, for example (non-intelligent) dolphins, wrilla-
bees (from the Ringworld RPG), whale sharks and so on.
I am still looking for other interesting and unusual sea life of the kind prudent
colonists might want to have on their world (= no "monsters"), and perhaps
one of you could give me a hint where to search ?

Of course I am also very interested in science fiction marine technology of al-
most any kind. Currently I am using GURPS material (GURPS Vehicles etc.) to
design the infrastructure, vehicles and equipment of the colonists as well as
the "space infrastructure" which connects them with the known universe, but
I would appreciate any information about other potential sources for the de-
velopment of the setting.

Well, and if there is anything else you would recommend for a setting of that
kind, please just let me know.

Thank You !

[juhanfg]

The biosphere of this planet has been destroyed by a "nearby" supernova ex-
plosion...

Although the idea is nice, a nearby supernova would most probably destroy the planet as well, or remove the atmosphere, evaporate the water...

J

[rust]

Yes of course - but "nearby" in this case means about 50 light years, and
the astronomer I asked was quite convinced that in this case the radiation
would kill of the plankton (and with it almost all life forms except those in
the deep sea trenches with their own food supply from chemosynthesis in-
stead of photosynthesis), but would not really damage the planet itself.

[juhanfg]

Yes of course - but "nearby" in this case means about 50 light years, and
the astronomer I asked was quite convinced that in this case the radiation
would kill of the plankton (and with it almost all life forms except those in
the deep sea trenches with their own food supply from chemosynthesis in-
stead of photosynthesis), but would not really damage the planet itself.

I guess I would have to check, but to be honest it doesn't really matter that much, if it's not 50 you can make 100 or 500...

You can also find some other local problem (in the planet) to kill out all life (volcanic activity, meteorite collision). It's just that a supernova is quite a drastic measure just to eliminate a few carbon units.

But in any case, it's your setting so it's up to you.

[rust]

Well, I decided to use the supernova because it has the added advantage
that it provides me with an "empty quarter" in space, a region where the
colonists have no immediate rivals, and where they can discover relics of
spacefaring cultures destroyed by the supernova.

[drohem]

Well, they'll have to re-introduce plankton, as mentioned. Also, coral is very important to the marine life chain.

[rust]

Yes, it took my colonists almost thirty years to rebuild the plankton-fish-food-
chain, and they have just started (after fifty years) to reintroduce some co-
ral reefs - and now they are looking for some more interesting creatures, be-
sides the few dolphins, dugongs, whale sharks and wrillabees they already ha-
ve.

[drohem]

Ok, so I assume then that they have re-introduced shellfish then.

What about cephalopods? Squid, octopi, cuttlefish, etc.

What about sea turtles?

[rust]

Cephalopodes were no problem, but sea turtles gave and give me some head-
ache, as they need beaches to lay their eggs, and Pharos IV is a pure water
world without any land (and therefore beaches) at all. I have a similar problem
with sea birds, they also need at least some land to reproduce. Artificial isles
might be a solution, but the colony's economy does not (yet) provide the ne-
cessary means to spare resources for such "luxuries".

[drohem]

well, maybe floating collections of seaweeds and organisms can create an artificial island where birds and mammals can live and breed.