Scp-1585

Item #: SCP-1585

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Due to the size and nature of SCP-1585, containment is primarily focused on suppressing public knowledge and access to SCP-1585. Containment and research is to be carried out primarily by the SCPS Garand (publicly RV Van Valen) in the Western Hemisphere, and the SCPS Tokarev (publicly RFS Filipchenko) in the Eastern Hemisphere. If SCP-1585 moves within 500km of major coastline, 250km within the boundary of a major current, or 50km of a major shipping lane, it is to be towed to a safe distance. Persons entering the area within 15km of SCP-1585 are to be informed that they are entering a marine protected sanctuary and turned away; craft which enter within 2km of SCP-1585 are to be captured and administered class C amnestics. Bi-monthly excursions to SCP-1585 are organized by Doctors Rooker and Szucs depending on SCP-1585’s current location. SCP-1585 is currently contained in the North Pacific Gyre, ~1500km south of the Aleutian Islands (40.91,178.93).

Description: SCP-1585 is a colossal specimen of the phylum Cnidaria (jellyfish) found to be most genetically similar to Chrysaora fuscescens (Pacific Sea Nettle). The bell of SCP-1585 is 544 meters across, 412 of which are above the surface of the water, with its tentacles extending over 2500 meters in length. Unlike other scyphozoans, SCP-1585’s bell constantly secretes a porous skeleton of calcium carbonate from its top, closely resembling that of anthozoan corals. This hard surface completely paralyzes SCP-1585's bell, preventing undulation. Instead, SCP-1585 will extend and retract its tentacles to “kite” subsurface currents, granting mobility. Over time, natural processes have created a small habitable area on the surface of SCP-1585's calcified bell, as well as a recruitment surface just below the water line. It is here that SCP-1585's secondary anomalous effect can be most easily observed.

Species who take residence on SCP-1585's surface will evolve at an extremely rapid rate, developing drastic adaptations in the span of only a few generations. Due to SCP-1585's mobility and apparent age (estimated at over 6000 years) it has managed to, and continues to, recruit various species of plant and animal from all around the Pacific Rim, with haplotypes in certain extant species extending to as far away as Madagascar. Competition among endemic species is fierce, constantly forcing responses to predation and competition stresses in order to keep reproductive fitness at a viable level. It is worth mentioning, however, that only adaptations conveying a higher level of fitness are seen in organisms reproducing on SCP-1585, with neutral and negative mutations entirely absent. Species endemic to SCP-1585 are capable of invading areas that SCP-1585 passes close to. Subsequent generations are not known to retain their rapid evolutionary pace once leaving SCP-1585, although their specialized adaptions often make them a threat to local ecology.

List Of Notable Species1 Discovery And History: SCP-1585 was discovered by the Foundation in 1930, following sighting of strange, non-native birds on the island of Guam, which could “peck holes through bone”. SCP-1585 was discovered 245km to the northeast and had raised suspicion due to not appearing on any map or nautical chart. Following the second observed extinction event caused by species 1585-304, the current special containment procedures were enacted, and SCP-1585 was relocated to the Northern Hemisphere. Recruitment rates have dropped significantly due to lower diversity, and the population of SCP-1585 has somewhat stabilized.

Footnotes

1. Microbial organisms do not seem to be affected by SCP-1585. The leading theory for this is that SCP-1585 affects individual organisms at the time fertilization takes place, leaving asexual organisms unaffected.