This image was made for the Blender Guru competition: Another Planet using Blender software with minor post processing in Photoshop.

 

My concept was to imagine what life might be like on Gliese 667 Cc which is a so called super-Earth about 20 light years away in a triple star system.

 

Gliese 667 Cc orbits a class M red dwarf and as a result most of the energy from that star is in the infra red. Life forms along the lines of Earth like evolution would most likely be black or dark purple like early forms of bacteria on earth to absorb the infra red spectrum for life processes.

 

The large plant like form is similar to a mangrove root system absorbing nutrients from the life rich water and the atmosphere. They use fungal spores to propagate. The bulbous head opens on maturity like a puff ball fungus. Class M red dwarfs are prone to violent solar flares which are a hazard to life on the planet especially as its orbit is so close to the star. To combat this the 'Mangrospore' life form has evolved a protective outer shell which reflects the energy from its aerial root system and keeps its more sensitive parts submerged in the water. Occasionally however a particularly violent flare can kill a mangrospore leaving just its huge skeletal roots reaching skyward.