Aquaplortatus dottus
Descendant of: A. invictus
Leaves have developed a central spine (more cell layers and more structural fibers between cells) that makes the leaf more rigid and less prone to tangling or leaning in the sea currents. They grow in clusters from intermittent points on the trailing seafloor roots. The base of these vertical clusters are dark and covered in hair-like roots that look like dark fuzz, young leaves have this covering and dark colour also before they grow tall. These hair-like roots arose from a mutation that caused root tissue to develop where it ordinarily wouldn't. This root tissue has specialized into a new type to extract more nutrients from water. With such little organic activity in this zone (since it was up until recently a vacant zone) the seabed is nutrient poor so open water roots supplement their diet. Nutrients are sometimes carried in from other zones on the sea currents or washed in from the land, although this is currently mostly raw inorganic nutrients.
The tops of the leaves are greener and get browner until they become a dark red almost black at the bottom. The leaves can grow up to 20 m tall, and if the tops of the leaves become broken they can atrophy the connection to the broken part and release it so it can regenerate fresh. The clone pods that they use to asexually reproduce bud all over the green parts of the leaves, but not the other sections of the leaves. These clone pods are each clusters of about 3-5 clones that break apart and scatter onto the sand nearby or sometimes into the sea currents. The clones are dense and not buoyant.
