User blog:Glitchrr36/An evolutionary breakdown of 4546B

So, I've been interested in biology, and especially marine biology for as long as I can remember. I've been interested in paleontology for about as long. More recently, I've discovered that piecing together evolutionary histories is fascinating. So, what better way to combine my non-academic interests and my favorite game by trying to piece together how the hell all these varied organisms are related?

DISCLAIMER: I'm working off of about 75 different species, since I'm counting Below Zero as well, and some of them make more sense biologically than others. Thus, this is a bunch of Best Guess interpretations, especially since there isn't enough of a link between some species and anything else to really judge for certain. In addition, The fossil record that I have to work with is a grand total of three, of which one is actually known to be related to anything in the games. So, take anything I say with a grain of salt, and if you disagree with anything let me know.

Overview
So the first thing I'm going to do is break down the big groups I'm using and how they might relate to each other. They are as follows: These groupes are each relatively distinct in bodyplan, barring the 'others' category, which encompasses stuff that seems distinct from any other species, such as the Reefback or Bleeder. A hastily thown together images of how they are related, with the Four eyes being the red and orange block to the right, eels being the blue group to the left, fish being the purple stuff on the bottom (with the Nootfish and Brinewing as the smaller, upper purple bit, since while I think they're closely relateed to the smaller organisms I'm not sure and they're pretty distinct), sharks and rays being the yellow stuff off to the side because they could have evolved from the Four eyes, Eels, or basal group due to how their bodies are layed out, and the three species in the Crocodiles category in that long green part.
 * Four eyes
 * Eels
 * Fish
 * Sharks
 * Crocodiles
 * Rays
 * Other

Four Eyes
Four eyes are probably the largest and most varied group after the Fish, and arguably the most diverse. These creatures are distinguished by their generally more squat bodyplan, though not always, a presence of two pairs of eyes (with one exception), and the general presence of forelimbs, though again this has exceptions.

This group includes the Biters, Sandsharks, Sea Emperor, Sea Dragon, Reaper, and possibly the Rockgrub, though the last one is less certain. It also includes some Below Zero fauna but none are as certain as the ones from the base game. The only certainies are the Pengwing and Pinnacarid, and possibly glow whale, but the Sea Monkey might count as well.

Due to how prevalent (about 10-15 species of the 75 or so that are either in the game or planned to be in the game) these organisms are, this is likely a pretty old lineage, especially since we have estimates that the Sea Dragon has been more or less unchanged for tens of millions of years, suggesting a timeframe significantly longer than that has been involved in the evolution of this group, in part due to how varied it is.

This can be subdivided into a couple of categories,