Hello all, Ric here with a Star Trek Bestiary, this time looking into another one of the
newest beasties added to the canon, the Gormangander, or “space whale” as it was colloquially
termed. There really is not too much on it, as it only gets two appearances in the lore
and it was not the focus of either episode at the time, but as usual, there is plenty
to speculate on. The Gormangander is a cosmozoan, a space dwelling
organism that looks to be around 8 metres wide, not including fins, and around 60 metres
long including its tails. However, this was based on my estimations of the USS Discovery’s
shuttlebay, which suffers from the current Trek issue of scaling inconsistencies. Because
apparently Discovery is over 700 metres long, but here it is next to a 289 metre constitution
so… yeah. It was a fleshy pink colour and had numerous
tails and fins across its length. Its fins were connected by a membrane which unfolded
like a sail when it was space-born and its tails trailed behind. The Gormangander drifts
through space, propelling itself through undisclosed means, although as it feeds on alpha particles
generated by solar winds, perhaps it caught the currents in its fins like a solar sail
ship. Its head had a four part mouth of mandibles
or petals that opened to reveal a structure of spines but no teeth. Presumably these acted
as some sort of filter feeder for the alpha particles, I’m positive. Alpha particles
are produced by radioactive decay and consist of 2 protons and 2 neutrons making them almost
identical to Helium atoms, and while they do not penetrate matter effectively in the
same way as gamma wave radiation, they can still cause radiation poisoning if ingested.
Of course, this being has a completely alien physiology in order to survive in space, so
that’s not an issue. I also can’t figure out how alpha particles themselves can be
used to generate any power, from what I understand, but I don’t know radiation. Maybe it’s
the just the literal impact energy from them that it absorbs or they somehow utilise the
ionizing effect. In any case, the quantity of alpha particles that a Gormangander needed
to consume was so large, that this occupied almost all their time. This led them to ignore
most other instincts in favour of continuing to feed, including fight or flight and even
mating. Despite their strange radioactive diet, they did possess a stomach, or some
form of digestive chamber. There were two genders and they produced calves
which looked identical, just smaller. Thanks to their lack of interest in breeding however,
focused as they were on nourishment they seldom reproduced and seemed to travel alone. Their
meat also tasted rather good, leading to many hunting attempts and their numbers diminished.
Klingons numbered among the species that would slay Gormanganders, and serve up their remains
back on Qo’Nos. Additionally, despite their native environment
being devoid of atmosphere and weight, they could survive in a standard M class biome
for a limited time, although in this state, they were rendered helpless and immobile,
sort of just, flopped there on the floor, all saggy and sad. Still, the pressure difference
didn’t make them implode. Because of their dwindled numbers, the United
Federation of Planets had placed them on its endangered species list and it was standing
orders to examine and tag any wild ones to better understand them and help preserve the
species, and render aid to any injured ones. Conservation efforts are apparently slow-going
and show no signs of halting as by the 32nd century, they were still on the endangered
list. At least they weren’t extinct, but considering their interest in only feeding,
it seems like this may be one species that may simply be dying out as an evolutionary
dead end. As for the name, it reminds me of Jormungandr,
the Midgard Serpent, or World Serpent of Norse mythology. It was the child of Loki and was
large enough to encircle Midgard, biting its own tail. As with many things in Norse mythology,
it has a prophesised place in Raganrok, when it will battle Thor and be killed by the storm
god, but not before it fatally poisons the deity. While this lumpy, pink, squidgy, blob
thing sort of looks vaguely serpentine when floating through space, it is far more akin
to a Basking Shark, or Blue Whale in terms of its feeding. Instead of a world ending
god-snake. So that is about it on the Gormangander. We’ll
probably see them crop up again as background creatures, but I’m not expecting an episode
centred around them any time soon. Thanks for watching, I’ve been Ric and I’ll see
you later, goodbye!