Chapter Text
Biology
Salarians are a species of warm-blooded amphibians native to the planet Sur'Kesh.
Correct nomenclature recommended. "Tachymetabolic" to reflect thermoregulation, specifically a higher metabolic activity than galactic median. Book written for human audience, anthropocentric language justifiable but inaccurate; salarians not members of Earth's animal class Amphibia. Suggest "amphibioid".
The planet's higher atmospheric humidity has allowed several of its species to retain the trait of laying eggs without shells.
"Anamniosis" refers to general trait of eggs that require significant moisture. On Earth, such species usually restricted to environments with bodies of fresh water. Sur'Kesh hydrosphere relatively and absolutely larger than Earth's. Results in higher atmospheric pressure, but sufficient moisture to allow salarian clutches to survive in most areas out of direct sunlight.
Salarians are haplo-diploid egg layers. This means that whether an egg is fertilised or not dictates the sex of the offspring; fertilised eggs mature into females, while unfertilised ones develop into males. Modern salarian society maintains a strict ratio of nine males for every one female, for reasons of political and cultural stability. In the centuries of salarian history technologically analagous to Earths 10th century and prior, the ratio was not maintained resulting in periods of exponential population growth, followed by bloody conflicts over insufficient resources. The societal development to the present reproductive status quo is fascinating, but beyond the scope of this work.
The morphological anatomy of a salarian is superficially similar to that of humans; indeed, the four limbs tetrapody, two eyes, and two ears (or ear analogues) are common across the majority of the galaxy's sapient life. The salarian digestive tract is approximately 20% longer than a human's, possessing three "stomachs" with intestine-like tubes several metres long between them. Each stomach exposes the food mass bolus to different modes of digestion. The first is lined with bony ridges, and is very muscular. With a high amount of fluid secreted into this structure, the food is rapidly ground down into paste chyme (or proto-chyme, to be more accurate to human analogue) which passes to the next stomach. The intermediary "intestine" between the first and second stomach is the shorter of the two. The bony ridges within the first stomach are one of the structures that limit a salarian's life span; by the age of 30, these ridges are heavily worn, limiting the individual's ability to digest food. While physicians have investigated the possibility of stimulating osseous growth or implanting synthetic replacements, the difficulties of gastric surgery and the other signs of senescence make this more trouble than it is worth.
The second stomach is similar to that of humans, with a highly acidic environment that chemically digests the suspended particles, as well as providing antibacterial action. This stomach primarily digests proteins which are of levo chirality, as with humans. Dextro-amino proteins remain undigested, and therefore provide no nutritional benefit. The next intermediary intestine is longer, and allows for the absorption of liberated amino acids.
The final stomach secretes huge quantities of alkaline juices to sharply elevate the pH of the paste chyme, which in turn breaks down fat activates lipase-analogous enzymes that break down lipids into fatty acids and glycerol. The final stretch of the digestive system is responsible for absorbing the fatty acids, glycerol, and other liberated vitamins and minerals, along with nominal amounts of water. This is also the region of the digestive tract where the urethra connects, just before the sigmoid colon and rectal analogues, before the combined waste is voided through the cloaca.
Salarian reproductive systems grossly analogous to their human counterparts, and will be referred to by names of the latter for brevity. Anatomical names used by salarians usually difficult to pronounce for non-salarians.
The ovaries of salarian females produce ova throughout their lifespan, which are stored in the fallopian tubes until the ±6 week period prior to their gravid time. The ova will at this stage move into the uterine cavity and mature into eggs, which are laid in batches of 20-50. Salarian males' testes also produce sperm throughout their lifespan, although the rate of production decreases sharply around the age of 30. The sperm is stored in the epididymis until time of release. The immotile sperm pass through the prostate, where seminal fluids grant them motility, before being excreted through a phallodium.
The salarian skeletal system is highly cartilaginous, with most long bone heads epiphyses consisting of cartilage with dense collagenous fibres bonding them to the osseous tissue. This makes the salarian skeleton very flexible but also paradoxically resistant to breaks or dislocations. The downside of this is a decrease in the flexion strength of the salarian muscle system. While individual muscle strand strength is close to the galactic median, the requirement for complex antagonistic structures to prevent excessive flexion of the ends of the bones limits the final strength a salarian can exert.
Interestingly, the famous salarian metabolism and circulatory systems allow these muscles to operate at maximal "fast twitch" power far longer than in other species. Because of this, salarians do not have the distinct "red", "pink", and "white" muscle fibres of humans.
An interesting note! Hadn't heard of this anomaly of Earth evolution.
The salarian circulatory system is similar to that of humans, with separate pulmonary and systemic circulation, but the salarian heart has a particular quirk setting it apart from any other species. Behind or beneath Posteroinferiorly to the heart is a fifth chamber that receives blood from the left atrium in parallel with the left ventricle. This chamber is almost as large as the rest of the heart, and its specialised histology allows it to control passage of blood out into the left ventricle to ensure that this fifth chamber (the salarian term would translate to something like "final spike spoke" referring to the wheel of existence some salarians ascribe to. Extremely popular belief system during Sur'Kesh "Renaissance") is always filled with oxygenated blood. While the salarian metabolism requires more oxygen per kg of body mass than any other species, their evolutionary history (covered in a later chapter) required that they be able to hold their breath for periods of time that would not be possible without an "internal aqualung", as this chamber is colloquially called by human physicians. This ultimately balances out to give the median salarian a period of four minutes that they can survive without oxygen before risking unconsciousness. This, along with the overall high blood pressure salarians possess, places great strain on their circulatory systems; another factor that limits their lifespan.
Evolution
Sur'Kesh's geological records suggest that the planet obtained it's high water levels early on in its formation. Much of the inner system's debris was either captured by Halegeuse to become its satellites, accumulated to form the planetoid Dragel, or bombarded Sur'Kesh. Much of this debris consisted of water and silicates.
The massive hydrosphere led to very little early evolutionary pressure to develop hard shells; the typical response of amphibians amphibioids to dry environments. Because of this, most of Sur'Kesh's vertebrate animal life consists of fish and amphibians, with a smattering of reptiles amphibioids, icthoids, and approximately 6 000 reptiloid species, latter limited to on the more arid mountain ranges.
With a fairly even split of aquatic and terrestrial food sources primordial salarians had the opportunity to develop aquatic and arboreal traits. However, as their brains developed and demanded more oxygen, many aquatic traits fell away.
Ancient salarians had shorter limbs, webbed digits and sharper, hooked teeth. Such traits unfavourable for arboreal life. Selected against.
Longer limbs made traversing the treetops much easier, and the salarians' flexibility allowed for more efficient climbing and swinging, while also sparing them serious injury from falls.
Salarians used to be ambush predators, leaping on smaller creatures to grab and eat them. About a million years prior to the first anatomically modern salarian, there were indications of plant-based traps to attract and consume large numbers of insects. This practise persisted well into the period of the agricultural revolution, only falling out of favour some 20 000 - 15 000 years ago.
While preferring meat, salarians are omnivorous, and frequently supplemented their diet with various plants. Taelo, a plant similar to earth's nightshade family, was one of the first domesticated plants, with its tubers and seeds becoming a staple the salarian diet. Numerous cultivars have since been developed to favour year-round growth, larger yields, and greater flavour.
Taelo buds also used in ancient times as dangerous poison. Can be discreetly added to victim's food with minimal effect on taste. Induces renal failure over period of three days, eventual death unavoidable without treatment. One name of poison (translates as "witherbloom") recorded in historical documents over 600 years before first known treatment. Likely ancient assassination guilds had own taelo cultivars which maximised toxicity.
Salarians have exhibited matriarchal tendencies for the entirety of recorded history, with matching evidence extending well into the fossil record. Communal living necessitated interpersonal communication, both verbal and visual, leading to many social cues that non-salarians may struggle to detect. Furthermore, a shortened lifespan necessitated rapid transfer of knowledge from parents and caretakers to offspring, as well as only mature salarians being able to disobey orders from their parents.
Lesser known but persistent bit of misleading trivia. Salarian neonates imprint on nearby adults, defer to their judgement. Frequently used by dalatrasses to encourage loyalty. But mechanism no more pervasive than propaganda used by other species; dalatrasses know they are guides, not overlords.