Scent-led swarm feeder

Glass Skipper

Small, quick and blind. Glass Skippers follow animal chemistry, take small bites, and become formidable when many arrive together.

At a glance

Adult length23 cmNose to tail at full growth.

Adult biomass50 gWet biomass used by feeding and reproduction.

Cruise speed0.32 m/sSwimming under its own power.

Escape burst1.65 m/sA short jump away from immediate danger.

Maturity2 minAge at which breeding becomes possible.

Lifetime15 minWhen age alone begins to cause decline.

How it finds food

Animal chemistry draws a hungry Glass Skipper into moving water. Fresh wound material gives it a stronger course, while its antennae resolve nearby bodies and neighbours.

How it survives

One Glass Skipper has little leverage. A dense, feeding group is different: repeated bites can deplete a much larger body, while a foodless crowd eventually disperses.

How it breeds

A ready female releases a transported reproductive cue. After pairing, she lays drifting eggs where animal-food chemistry gives the next generation a useful start.

Simulation values

These values are read from the live species tuning table during the build.

Synced to code

Body & movement

body mass50 g

How big a grown Skipper is. Its reach, its gut, what it releases, and what a clutch costs all scale from this.

Adjustable range 10 g–200 g

cruise0.32 m/s

Full sustained swimming speed during a supported course. Uneventful drift and anonymous wake checks use bounded fractions of it.

Adjustable range 0.02 m/s–0.9 m/s

turn rate1.5 rad/s

How fast a body can swing its heading, in radians per second. Low turns read as an animal; high reads as a cursor.

Adjustable range 0.2 rad/s–6.0 rad/s

drift carry×0.68

How much of the water's motion carries a body along. This is displacement the water does to it, never effort it spent.

Adjustable range ×0.00–×1.40

flow affinity0.00

Which way a body chooses to face relative to the water. Negative holds station facing into it, positive rides it downstream, zero leaves it to its own meander. Being carried is separate and always happens.

Adjustable range -1.00–1.00

jump speed1.65 m/s

Speed of an approach or escape burst. Far above anything the current does, so either reads as a decisive stroke.

Adjustable range 0.2 m/s–4 m/s

jump time0.17 sec

How long one burst lasts. A maximal escape needs four times this to recover; a controlled approach dart needs half this.

Adjustable range 0.05 sec–0.6 sec

Feeding & survival

bite recovery2.4 sec

Seconds between small contact bites. Lower makes a body wound and consume food faster.

Adjustable range 0.2 sec–8 sec

maintenance3.2e-3/s

Stored material spent per unit of body material per second simply staying alive.

Adjustable range 5.0e-4/s–2.0e-2/s

resilience2.5 min

How long a body holds on with an empty gut before it begins to fail.

Adjustable range 20 sec–6.67 min

forage×1.4

How strongly appetite and animal chemistry support feeding against Tarantor risk. Water motion cannot cancel an accepted food course.

Adjustable range ×0.0–×3.0

Senses & search

response threshold0.18

Immediate evidence needed before a pressure course or escape. A wake causes a swimming approach; Tarantor chemistry causes a burst away. Lower is more reactive.

Adjustable range 0.02–1.00

food scent2.0e-3

Animal or wound chemistry that makes a place worth searching and laying near.

Adjustable range 1.0e-5–0.1000

Reproduction & lifespan

maturity2 min

How long a body must live before it can breed. Also how long it spends growing into its full size and forked tail.

Adjustable range 10 sec–10 min

breeding reserve70%

Share of a full gut a body must carry before it will breed. Only well-fed adults take part, and a fuller female commits a larger clutch.

Adjustable range 20%–100%

cue life40 sec

How long a released cue lingers in the water. Longer trails reach further downstream and blur into each other.

Adjustable range 2 sec–3 min

cue threshold2.0e-5

Faintest trail a male will turn toward. Lower sends him chasing water that barely smells of anything.

Adjustable range 1.0e-6–5.0e-4

trait spread30%

How far an inherited trait may range either side of the species norm. The whole allowance: at 0.3 nothing can be more than fifteen percent off standard.

Adjustable range 0%–60%

lifetime15 min

How long a body lives before age alone begins to fail it, however well fed it is. Without this a Skipper that reaches a plume never ages out, and the population only ever grows.

Adjustable range 1 min–1 hr