Haired Silip

The haired silip split from its ancestor, the diatomoflora siliporro, becoming even better adapted to ocean life. Its improved adaptations have allowed it to spread to all tropical and temperate regions. The colder climatic regions cannot support its photosynthetic diet.

The lack of access to silica in the oceans, especially on the water surface where it floats, has forced it to rely instead on the abundant supply of dissolved free calcium and carbon dioxide in the oceans. It is able to maintain its skeletal structure but now uses its chemical factory (various organelles) to produce carbonates to form a rigid scaffolding. The soft membrane has also evolved to hold pockets of CO2 (carbon dioxide). This causes it to balloon up, providing further buoyancy. The stretched membranes increased surface area is able to capture more sunlight. This in combination with an increased ability to store surplus CO2 has resulted in improved photosynthetic efficiency.

The extra supply of energy has afforded the haired silip to grow hair like cilia that can be manipulated to maneuver itself. These are used regularly to flip itself over to keep cool and regulate its photosynthetic membranes temperature. This flipping over movement also assists with releasing of any remaining attached spores. The action itself promotes spore development (indicating its in an area with good sunlight, better chance for spore survival).

The reproduction changes are minimal. The spores are now able to develop in the water itself (even taking temporary refuge within its parents (or other silip's) hairs (like frog spawn). The spores themselves are released from under the bulbous central chamber that holds all the reproduction and chemical organelles (handling spore generation, chemical absorption: minerals and CO2, photosynthetic reactions, etc...).