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Description
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Continuing with the tube animals, another group did not develop gill slits, but did develop echinoderm-like hydraulic tube feet powered by a primitive circulatory system (1). Parts of this system would eventually specialize into a true blood-vascular system, while others would become encased in plastic and turn into tubular bones as the hydraulic movement of the feet is replaced by muscle power. The feet themselves, initially arranged into radial rows, may eventually be relocated anywhere and take on a variety of functions, forming legs, gills, sensory appendages and even excretory organs (inverting into the body). Not sure about the reproductive organs and the eyes, though.
Aside from the aforementioned bones, these creatures may produce a hard cuticle, initially forming rings of teeth in the mouth and scales on the body, but in some creatures creating a full exoskeleton.

Anyway, this group radiated into countless forms and niches, such as:
2 and 3 - sea cucumber analogues,
4 - potato-like floaters that produce mucus nets to catch food,
5 - tick-like forms,
6 - sessile polyp/crinoid-like forms,
7 - whatever that is,
8 - something based on hypotrichs except multicellular,
The ones with an exoskeleton would, of course, develop into arthropod equivalents:
9 - crab-like,
10 - some generic bug,
11 - a bug whose front limbs form a piercing proboscis,
12 - bug with a neck, since the body plan of these creatures is not limited by strictly defined segmentation,
13 - shrimp.
In a video game, some of those bugs can be pests that destroy your plastic things, even chewing through your habitat like termites.
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One particular group of endoskeletal tube-footed animals developed two unusual but very promising adaptations - lateral furrows housing their gills and a hypertrophied leg that would eventually form a fish-like tail (1), its skeleton extending all the way to the head like a makeshift spine. The gill furrows would eventually turn into gill tubes (2), giving them two siphons in addition to the tail, and the remaining limbs would become all sorts of fins and oral appendages. And maybe they get compound eyes too?
Anyway, these are the main "fish" of this world, though sometimes they also become more like bugs.
3 - a basic fishie without fins, compensating with its head shape,
4 - an even simpler fishie with forward-facing tentacles.
5 - a more advanced finless form with powerful siphons.
6 - gas-filled floater, like a more active portuguese man o`war. There`s a wide variety of such creatures. I`ve been thinking that their gas ballons can also contain a reserve of oxygen (so they don`t have to breathe when hunting, as the prey may sense the siphons pulsing way before it actually sees the creature), so in a game they`d be an oxygen source.
7 - the actual bugfish, which have fishlike bodies with fins and oral appendages with an exoskeleton (though not always, as shown in one of the head drawings). There are many kinds of them (though their bodies are not as diverse as their faces), they`d be both the most common food items and predators of the player.
Alongside the bugfish we have the fishbugs, whcih have more of an exoskeleton, leaving only their tail exposed (8-10), although some of them have that tail reduced and rely mainly on their siphons (11, 12). They are typically larger than the non-fishy bugs.

Description
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Continuing with the tube animals, another group did not develop gill slits, but did develop echinoderm-like hydraulic tube feet powered by a primitive circulatory system (1). Parts of this system would eventually specialize into a true blood-vascular system, while others would become encased in plastic and turn into tubular bones as the hydraulic movement of the feet is replaced by muscle power. The feet themselves, initially arranged into radial rows, may eventually be relocated anywhere and take on a variety of functions, forming legs, gills, sensory appendages and even excretory organs (inverting into the body). Not sure about the reproductive organs and the eyes, though.
Aside from the aforementioned bones, these creatures may produce a hard cuticle, initially forming rings of teeth in the mouth and scales on the body, but in some creatures creating a full exoskeleton.

Anyway, this group radiated into countless forms and niches, such as:
2 and 3 - sea cucumber analogues,
4 - potato-like floaters that produce mucus nets to catch food,
5 - tick-like forms,
6 - sessile polyp/crinoid-like forms,
7 - whatever that is,
8 - something based on hypotrichs except multicellular,
The ones with an exoskeleton would, of course, develop into arthropod equivalents:
9 - crab-like,
10 - some generic bug,
11 - a bug whose front limbs form a piercing proboscis,
12 - bug with a neck, since the body plan of these creatures is not limited by strictly defined segmentation,
13 - shrimp.
In a video game, some of those bugs can be pests that destroy your plastic things, even chewing through your habitat like termites.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

One particular group of endoskeletal tube-footed animals developed two unusual but very promising adaptations - lateral furrows housing their gills and a hypertrophied leg that would eventually form a fish-like tail (1), its skeleton extending all the way to the head like a makeshift spine. The gill furrows would eventually turn into gill tubes (2), giving them two siphons in addition to the tail, and the remaining limbs would become all sorts of fins and oral appendages. And maybe they get compound eyes too?
Anyway, these are the main "fish" of this world, though sometimes they also become more like bugs.
3 - a basic fishie without fins, compensating with its head shape,
4 - an even simpler fishie with forward-facing tentacles.
5 - a more advanced finless form with powerful siphons.
6 - gas-filled floater, like a more active portuguese man o`war. There`s a wide variety of such creatures. I`ve been thinking that their gas ballons can also contain a reserve of oxygen (so they don`t have to breathe when hunting, as the prey may sense the siphons pulsing way before it actually sees the creature), so in a game they`d be an oxygen source.
7 - the actual bugfish, which have fishlike bodies with fins and oral appendages with an exoskeleton (though not always, as shown in one of the head drawings). There are many kinds of them (though their bodies are not as diverse as their faces), they`d be both the most common food items and predators of the player.
Alongside the bugfish we have the fishbugs, whcih have more of an exoskeleton, leaving only their tail exposed (8-10), although some of them have that tail reduced and rely mainly on their siphons (11, 12). They are typically larger than the non-fishy bugs.