Blood Sponge
Tubincia sanginata is a copedispa parasite of aquatic muscals. It produces spores that enter the host through thin tissue or a wound. Once inside the host it begins forming a porous body supported with crytallinae spicules that it uses to filter the blood of its host.
Using the crystalline spicules it pierces through its host and releases more spores within the bloodstream. The spores produced inside of the host and develop softer porous bodies with less few spicules that filter the blood. Blood of an infect host carries the spores of T. sanginata and the bllod will infect the water with the spores.
Once the body has grown to 2-3cm it will begin reproducing sexually by creating gametes that, some that are released and some that are retained. The gametes that are retained are frtilized by other T. sanginata gametes and the ones released fertilize other gametes. Once the gametes are fertilized the body will produce crystalline spicules to pierces the host's skin and release the fertilized gametes into the water to to infect new hosts. Spores that fail to find a new host will die.
There are two cell types in the porous body: body cells and filter cells. Body cells are simple cells with chitin cell walls, ribosomes, nuclei, and spicule forming organelles. The body cells produce spores, gametes, and crystalline spicules. The filter cells lack a cell wall, have nuclei, ribosomes, and grow a cone of microvilli covered in cilia with a single flagella at the center. The flagella moves the blood over the mircovilli which move nutrients and bloodcells down towards the filter cell to be phagocytized.
High infestations of T. sanginata can kill their host by through suffocation. When a host dies they will pierce the skin and reproduce sexually as described above.
