Hungry Leaf Plankton
Derived from: Foliumnympheus foliluminio Zone: 6 Size: 400 micrometers
Some foliluminio traveled out of their cave home and traveled into the open ocean. A few things happened to them as a result. They developed longer and stronger wings to be able to maneuver around the open ocean. They also came to eat other species of plankton primarily, the are very prevalent and would allow more energy than eating plants alone. When there is no plankton around and they have very little stored food they go back to eating plants and using their photosynthetic cells. Their omnivorous behavior before allowed them ease to this switch. The groups are now much smaller then they once were only around 100 individuals. It is this way because they now only need that many to overwhelm their prey.
Looks: The look almost exactly the same as their ansestor. Their wings are longer then their ansestor. They also have a larger base to the wings to harbor larger mussels. They have the same sacs that keep energy in them. These sacs now do not produce much light. Because they have no need for it and they are more likely to get eaten with the light, they produce very little light now. The sacs now just hold energy which help them to survive when there is no food. They still have a slight ability to produce energy from light, but they do not usually use it except in time of great need like right before they will clone themsleves.
Eating: They now eat other plankton such as F. folumicroeus, Foliumnympheus folilceps and F.foliluminio. If there is a shortage of them they will eat plants. They only eat this alternate food once their sacs are less then 10% full. They hunt in their groups of around 50. They go into the groups of prey and grab them with their mouths and eat them. They store the excess energy in the sacs.
Reproduction: They clone themselves when the sacs get 90% full. They only clone when conditions are good. Good conditions mean much food mainly. This depletes the sacs to around 30% the clones have exactly the same genetics as their "parent." Each clone has 30% sacs when finished cloning. They clone approximately 1.5 times a day. Once cloned they are around 1/3 the size of their parent.
Grouping: They group themselves in groups of 100. When they clone up to 100 they spit into 2 groups of 50 each. This takes around 2 weeks to do in good conditions. They group up to take on prey larger then themselves.
Defense: When feeders (filter usually) are trying to eat them, the group swarms around their eyes and face and bites them. This is is a minor irritant and sometimes makes them move away from the group or prey. Most determined predators mainly ignore at and go on their way. Quadwhiskerus and flotensis are the main predators of cenafolius.