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Description
The ceiling ottoia is a predator living anchored just under the ice of Europa, with natural antifreeze proteins embedded in the flesh so that it does not get frostbite on its anchor. Vast colonies of ottoia stretch for miles in extensive gardens, drifting eerily in the darkness. Slight water currents and electromagnetic energy alert it to the presence of predator or prey (it often only attacks what it detects as small enough to swallow) and rapidly snatches its quarry with three retractable tentacles, armed with velcro-like structures at the tips of the appendages. It has one small stomach halfway down with which it digests its prey before expelling it through a hole in its belly. Every 5 years, the ottoias will reproduce externally, fertilizing the eggs in the drifting currents which will sink down to lower depths. The hatching larvae spend the majority of their lives wriggling around in the abyss, feeding on increasingly larger prey. Once it reaches a large enough size, it will swim to the icy under-surface and suction itself to the ceiling, spending the rest of its life there. Their spikes develop as a protective measure against being eaten by predators.

Description
The ceiling ottoia is a predator living anchored just under the ice of Europa, with natural antifreeze proteins embedded in the flesh so that it does not get frostbite on its anchor. Vast colonies of ottoia stretch for miles in extensive gardens, drifting eerily in the darkness. Slight water currents and electromagnetic energy alert it to the presence of predator or prey (it often only attacks what it detects as small enough to swallow) and rapidly snatches its quarry with three retractable tentacles, armed with velcro-like structures at the tips of the appendages. It has one small stomach halfway down with which it digests its prey before expelling it through a hole in its belly. Every 5 years, the ottoias will reproduce externally, fertilizing the eggs in the drifting currents which will sink down to lower depths. The hatching larvae spend the majority of their lives wriggling around in the abyss, feeding on increasingly larger prey. Once it reaches a large enough size, it will swim to the icy under-surface and suction itself to the ceiling, spending the rest of its life there. Their spikes develop as a protective measure against being eaten by predators.