echidna

That's why I initially suggested they needed to be pressure sensitive.

But on further thought, if they were only simple point receivers, non-directional, without surface contact, their output would only be a vague light / dark kind of image, unable to provide any detail.

Only on contact could a precise 2D image be generated since there would be no conflicting light from other sources.

Veil of Fire

What if the tentacles produced a slight biolumenesence and then the sensory nerves in the skin processed the light reflected off the object it was feeling?

This critter is rather important to the plot... I'd hate to have to scrap it, but I'd hate more to end up with Star-Wars-Like plausibility holes in my story. I'm looking at Larry Niven Lite, not ...um... well, shoot, I don't actually read any 'soft' sci-fi, so I can't name an author.

echidna

I'm still running with this one, although the pressure-sensitivity seems less important now.

(… although bioluminescence was the term I was searching for at the time. )

[ July 25, 2002: Message edited by: echidna ]</p>