Brushrums

The Brushrums split from their ancestor. These marine planimals regained some mobility in their leaves and took on a more benthic lifestyle. Unlike their suction cup-using relatives, however, they are crawlers—using their filter-feeding tentacles to creep along the seafloor. They are also able to flap their leaves to quickly ascend, should they encounter a predator. They accomplish this with the beginnings of a nervous system—a chemical-based nerve net running through the leaves and tentacles. They have a blind gut in their center with six tongue-like mini-tentacles surrounding it, which lick plankton and detritus off of their larger bristly tentacles to eat. They capture food passively as they walk along the seafloor.

The reproductive method of the Brushrums has been altered. Several paired gonads exist along the edges of each leaf. These gonads release spores, which join with other spores of the opposite sex and eventually grow into new Brushrums. Juvenile Brushrums are planktonic and can be found out in the open ocean, living a similar lifestyle to their ancestor where they float at the surface, soaking in sunlight and filter-feeding. As they grow, they become denser and eventually sink down to the shallows to assume the adult benthic lifestyle. They retain the ability to reproduce by budding as well.

There are many species of Brushrums. They have not developed good osmoregulatory capabilities, so they are absent from rivers. Polar species are typically darker in color and will bury themselves in sand over the winter to hibernate. Some species drag their tentacles through the sediment, rather than lifting them off the ground, to capture benthic microbes. Though uncommon, some species live as deep as the twilight floor and live exclusively off of plankton and detritus, losing their photosynthesis and turning a ghostly white as they mature. Some tropical species have purple striping, allowing them to camouflage in reefs and undersea forests without harming their photosynthesis.