Brain Jelly

This creature started out as a small sketch to play with transparency, but I was satisfied with the way it turned out. As much as I believe that the overwhelming majority of extraterrestrial life must look remarkably different from life-forms on Earth, I predict there will be some that look very similar. There are body plans that are so simple that they may be found in many places across the universe, even if their biochemistry is entirely different from life as we know it. A few of these universal body plans may be those we see in our jellyfish, worms, and possibly some fungi. This creature seems to have evolved similarly to a jellyfish. It is a nomadic aquatic organism, using an outer muscular membrane as its primary means of propulsion. Its long draping appendage is responsible for procuring the creature's food- small floating bits and microorganisms in the water. Where its body plan differs from that which we are familiar is in its rigid posterior defensive spines, prehensile tentacles, and more robust internal body chamber. On Earth, it would be considered a jellyfish on steroids.