Beach Bean

The Beach Bean split from its ancestor and spread to inhabit the coastal waters that its originating river spilled into, forming swathes of colonies in the shallower zones. They cover rocks in the tidal zones of the coasts and beaches, forming slippery films. In areas without significant rock surfaces they can be found clumping together the sandy surface in their biofilm. They've developed a greater resistance to temperature fluctuations, producing antifreeze compounds in their cytoplasm when exposed to freezing temperatures on polar beaches increasing their survivability in such cold areas. Their life cycle has gained a more distinct stage for sexual reproduction. Life works much like its ancestor, a solitary bean that elongates and splits into an affixed base and free-floating ball. The separated base of the elongated bean continues following much the same route as the ancestor, spreading outward and producing five buds in pentagonal symmetry and eventually dying on the maturity of the buds, which then repeat the cycle. What has changed is that the floating ball has taken up the role of specializing for genetic exchange. It is important to note that the standard somatic cell of the Beach Bean is haploid. Much of its biomass goes into the production of a pair of very large cells that it carries inside a protective single cell layer. When two meet their protective layerings are undone at the point of contact and the inner cells merge with one another to form two diploid cells. These diploid cells promptly perform meiosis to create four unique haploid cells. At this point the protective layer dissipates and the haploid cells float and divide into new beans which eventually sink to the ground and set their lifecycle in motion again.