The thing about a predator: you're not supposed to see it.
The above predator looks and smells like spring, nestled down in the midst of the wildflowers of its world, and sucks in air full of unwitting pollinators like whales inhale plankton in the midst of the sea.
On its homeworld, the local pollinators do altogether too much in terms of reproduction in the springtime, and would not survive if the apex predator of the wildflower ranges did not keep their numbers under control through the summer and fall.
In the 22nd century, someone had the idea of introducing this innocent-looking spring tangle of an alien to control the mosquito population in a particular region on Earth.
This someone did not realize that male mosquitoes are the most numerous pollinators on earth.
The good news was that within a month, there was not a single mosquito bite recorded in the region.
There was also no fruiting food for anyone within three months. It would take a year for the rest of the local pollinators to recover, and for the local food systems to get back together.
These whales of the wildflower fields of their homeworld now are a protected species – but mostly for the protection of everyone else in the galaxy who depends on fruiting plants for food!
This is a colorized pure fractal made in Apophysis 2.09 with the colors of magnolias, wisterias, and California poppies in addition to the light spring green and floral figures the fractal provided me!