Whip Swarmers

Whip Swarmers are various highly motile microswarmers which use their greatly elongated tentacles as flagella. This allows them to utilize motility to move towards light, should a shadow fall on them or if they drift into deep water. This also allows them to swim away from predators. Notably, they actually swim backwards—their tentacle-flagella pull them, rather than push!

There are many, many species of Whip Swarmer. They can live anywhere where there is water, with a notable preference for slower currents. Polar species may hibernate over the dark winters. They are not as resistant to ice and desiccation as their cousins, the Swarmerkings, but this does not stop them from having a few species that thrive in desert oases and icy rivers. They can also hibernate in the water table, which allows them to be easily transported between different river ecosystems. They are quite similar to their ancestor, being purely phototrophs.