Phungii zoopoion
Phungii zoopoion
Descended from a colony of Phungii piscicida that sank to the bottom on a dead Cynopsis pyrrhosynopsm. In the lower layers of the lake, this colony began to break down their host to extraxt nutrients. After some time they released zoospores, which landed on other carcasses that layed on the lakebed. With time, this isolated population of synaplots would specilize as decomposers and become a new species.
12 μm long(sporangia form)
Originates in zone 23
P. zoopoion shows one important difference from their ancestor, the loss of their chemical defenses, since the defenses are not put into use and are costly to make in the first place. They do also have several new types of enzymes that help with breaking down carcasses to extract the nutrients.
While they have a couple physical differences, they behave similarly to their ancestor with only minor differences(with one big exception), growing on a carcass at a slow rate as they break it down. When a colony of them reaches carrying capacity, they release all their zoospores at once; which will then swim in the water until they find a different carcass to settle on. If they land on a carcass, they will germinate and become a new colony. If the zoospores don't encounter a foodsource, however, they slow down their metabolism and go into a state akin to dormancy. The ability to go into this state is the biggest behavior changes this species has from their ancestors, even if the zoospore is only capable of doing this for about 2 and a half months at most