Are you talking herbivorous or carnivorous?
In my opinion something that big is unlikely to be a carnivore. The demands it would put on an ecosystem would be tremendous. Even as a herbivore. I'm guessing the ecosystem has evolved around it and is used to such demands?
Although, if you were going filter feeder, it probably wouldn't care what it scooped up.
edited 3rd Feb '11 12:50:50 AM by LoniJay
Be not afraid...Well, it's not like there won't be any super giant predators to prey upon the super giant omnivores. For example, my version of the Kraken would have giant fish with which it would eat along side the usual cruise ship full of tasty people. Also, the Kraken is supported by water boyancy while the twenty mile wide creatures are only a foot tall.
edited 3rd Feb '11 9:58:04 AM by SandJosieph
To be really realistic, environmental damage would kill these guys quite quickly, but I'm sure we can easily ignore that for the purposes of a fictional story.
So you've kraken and you've super-kraken that eats kraken? I would thought the kraken was enough to be at the top of the food chain. Things that high up are usually carnivorous because of how food chains work but if they're semi-intelligent or more, then I would say they should be omnivorous. Alternatively, they could be carnivorous when times are good and herbivorous when times are rough.
I think he's saying that the planet is REALLY FUCKING HUGE, to the point that something we could see from the atmosphere would be the equivalent of a blue whale in size. The ecology would be self-supporting, but any humans there... would be dinner.
Or maybe I'm Completely Missing The Point?
edited 3rd Feb '11 6:35:57 PM by Diamonnes
My name is Cu Chulainn. Beside the raging sea I am left to moan. Sorrow I am, for I brought down my only son.Astronomy/cosmology isn't my strong point, but:
Wouldn't the gravity only be that high on a dense planet? If the planet has low density, wouldn't the gravity be significantly less than you'd expect?
In addition, if it's underwater, the gravity of planet would affect what lives there significantly less anyway, wouldn't it?
edited 3rd Feb '11 6:35:32 PM by Diamonnes
My name is Cu Chulainn. Beside the raging sea I am left to moan. Sorrow I am, for I brought down my only son.To look at it another way, Venus' volume is 85.7% of Earth's, but it's mass is only 81.5% of Earth's, hence it's less dense (only 5.204 g/cm3, as compared to Earth's 5.515 g/cm3). It's a pattern that follows in the rest of the cosmos, where atomic matter exists, larger planets have higher densities and consequently higher gravities.
I don't think I'll have that much of an issue with the Square-Cube Law as these giants aren't actually based on preexisting creatures. The giant land squids may have an issue, though.
Carbon nanotubes made of diamond? Diamond is just a different configuration of carbon. :D
Is this story meant to be realistic? I mean giant monsters usually implies some type of fantasy story. You could look at how food pyramids work if you wanted to know what they would eat.
Generally, your lowest base is where you need to have the most energy located. They'd be plants and such soaking in solar radiation to convert into usable energy. Then herbivores sit above that taking in that energy, which means they need to take in less than the plants produce for them. Then carnivores sit above that, taking in energy by eating herbivores, thus they need to take in less energy than the herbivores produce for them. This is why it is pyramid shaped.
So if you have a super large beast, then you'll want to look at it that way. If it's a herbivore, then it pushes out many plant eaters because the environment can't support that many super giants.

And when I say giant I mean something of such colossal size that it can practically be seen from space. Like a creature 20 miles wide or my version of the Kraken, which is a massive sperm shaped monstrosity with 20 tails. It's mouth is so wide it could use the Empire State Building as a toothpick.