Radiate

Radiates are a sapient radially-symmetrical species from a planet identified as Lambda 771 in the Q series.

Biology
Radiates evolved from a radial life form similar to a five-armed starfish. Their size varies from a few centimeters to almost a meter in armspan. Their five arms are flexible and at least partially retractable, and equipped with numerous suckers that can be used to hold and manipulate objects. Their skin is brownish-yellow.

On the central part of their bodies, Radiates have a ring-shaped brain with multiple eyes and nodules. Their eyesight is not very well developed, since their eyes are incapable of focusing, and have to deal with several diffused images rather than sharply-defined ones. Although they have 360 degree vision, Radiates can't see very far upwards, making them easy prey for the flying insectoid Jags, who drop on them from above while targeting their vulnerable eye rings.

Culture and society
Radiates live in wide, low communal buildings, whose ceilings are decorated with a plethora of vegetation and spiral fungi. They don't seem to have individual names, only "group names". They wear flimsy clothing made out of a clingy material, which is stored beneath their bodies when not in use.

Radiates engage in a particular kind of dance which is initiated by a single individual turning alternately from one direction to another. This initiator is joined by a gradually-increasing number of individuals with their arms interlocked and those in the periphery trying to move in towards the center of the congregation.

Just like bilateral species often think in terms of dualities, the pentapod Radiates tend to think in pluralities.

Appearances

 * Memoirs of a Spacewoman, by Naomi Mitchison (1962)