The Doughpot is an amorphous protoplasmic life form which occupies the highest position in the food chain of the Venusian jungles. Its body consists of a mass of undifferentiated cells which multiply as long as there's food available and devour everything in their path. Merely touching one of them is fatal, as the unfortunate victim will be furiously consumed by the monster.
However, the Doughpot isn't a single being as much as a loosely-connected superorganism, and is capable of dividing itself in two or more individuals with ease. This mindless beast always moves in the direction of food, and if there is food available in more than one direction, it will readily split its mass. As a result, Doughpots in the jungles tend to be much smaller than their rare but enormous counterparts of the tundra, where there is far less food available and the dividing process is much rarer.
Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the Doughpot is that, in the complete absence of other food sources, it instead turns its attention towards devouring itself, as each cell attacks its neighbors until the whole colonial beast is dissolved.
Appearances[]
- "Parasite Planet", by Stanley G. Weinbaum (1935)