Oblast Coral

-| Property | Details |+| Feature | Details | | :--- | :--- | | **Type** | Anchored | | **Category** | Corals | | **Attitude** | Passive | | **Biome** | Overgrown Ruins |+| **Scan Tool** | Bioscanner |   ![Oblast Coral](Oblast Coral.png)  -**Oblast Coral** is a large lifeform located in the Overgrown Ruins.+**Oblast Coral** is a large Lifeform located in the Overgrown Ruins.   ## Appearance   A large, deep, purplish blue coral. It is made of many random shapes. This is explained by the fact that the Oblast Coral is made up of many different animals, all working together.   As of version 1.2, Oblast Coral has very few instances that can be scanned; such as the instances growing around the destroyed Axum buildings near the Needler Nest.   ## Databank Entry  -> **Tentatively *Coral oblast*. A chimeric mass of coral, sponge, and raion species that produces a reservoir of spores. Named for the level of administration above a raion.**+> **Tentatively *Coral oblast*.** A chimeric mass of coral, sponge, and raion species that produces a reservoir of spores. Named for the level of administration above a raion. > > **1. Morphology** > > The oblast grows from the outside in. Patches of specialized coral polyp, raion worms, and sponge pumps form first, then cooperate to channel food to a bed of sponge bud tissue. Spectrogenetic analysis detects markers associated with starvation and stress. > > **2. Enigmatic development** > > Does the oblast begin as a patchwork of adults from different species, or a single stem cell with the genome of all its members? > > **3. Spore stash** > > The heart of the oblast is a mass of billions of sponge spores called gemmules. Each gemmule contains the genome of *all* the oblast's member species, preserved to last millions of years—but lacks the cellular machinery required to grow. Why does the oblast spend its energy creating nonviable spores? > > **4. Viral absence** > > Genetic recombination and duplication is associated with Proteavirus infection. Yet the spore cells contain no live retrovirus. > > **5. False cooperation** > > It is tempting to imagine the oblast as a seed vault, created by each member species to transfer their genes into a more viable future. (One might imagine the spores as escape pods which genes use to abandon their doomed bodies.) But this cooperation is impossible under modern evolutionary theory. Each species in the oblast would be better off using its energy to make copies of itself, not shared spores. Bioenergetic analysis by Karakoç, Shoemaker and Lennon confirms that long-term sporulation is an expensive last resort that complex organisms discard in favor of short-term advantage. > > **Assessment:** Confounding. The oblast is a cooperative project for future survival, but competition in the present determines evolutionary success.   *Source: Scan an Oblast Coral*   ## Gallery   ![A group of Oblast Corals.](Unscannable Observatory Island 3.png) ![Oblast Corals viewed from a different angle.](Unscannable Observatory Island 3b.png) ![Bioluminescence at night.](Unscannable Observatory Island 3c.png)