Bloodtides

Bloodtides
(Sanguiflumis spp.)
Information
Creator	Bufforpington Other
Week/Generation	27/167
Habitat	Jujubee Ocean, LadyM Ocean, Mnid Ocean, Barlowe-Lamarck Shelf, Drake Shelf, Fermi Shelf, Kosemen-Wallace Shelf, Ramul-Steiner Shelf, Vonnegut Shelf, Driftwood Islands, Ice Sheets, Barlowe, Drake, Fermi, Kosemen, Lamarck, Ramul, Steiner, Vonnegut, Wallace
Size	100-300 um Long
Primary Mobility	Unknown
Support	Algin Cell Wall
Diet	Photosynthesis
Respiration	Passive Diffusion
Thermoregulation	Ectotherm
Reproduction	Asexual (Mitosis), Sexual (Fusion, Meiosis)
Taxonomy
Domain Superkingdom Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species	Eukaryota Viridisagania Luminophilia Erythrophyta Erythroluminopsida Erythroluminales Erythroluminaceae Sanguiflumis Sanguiflumis spp.

Ancestor:	Descendants:
Redmosses

The bloodtides split from their ancestor in response to predation. Their ancestor, the redmoss didn't have much to defend itself with aside from its rampant reproduction. The bloodtides instead opted for a more offensive strategy by selecting for increasingly poisonous individuals. Bloodtides also have a thick cell wall consisting of algin to provide additional protection as well as structural support. Bloodtides are non-colonial organisms and often occur as dense clouds of unicellular plankton. Bloodtides are known to multiply rapidly, albeit less quickly than their ancestor. In warm climates, this could result in blood-red algal blooms that can poison large tracts of rivers, lakes, and oceans. Bloodtides consistently have three mobile flagella that are used to propel them through the water column.

One of the basal species known is Sanguiflumis primopestilentia (Bottom), which maintains the basal leaf-shaped form. It, however, is quite poisonous, and often causes toxic algal blooms in the Terra Watershed that can kill wildlife.

This however, pales to the most toxic species, Sanguiflumis vailnoffensis (Right), which occurs in Vailnoff Lake. It often runs rampant in the warm, languid waters, causing great red tides that are lethal to anything that ingests the tainted water. It has some of the largest flagella in relation to its body size, which grants it an increased swimming speed relative to other bloodtides, allowing it to better escape microbial predators. It is one of the most derived forms, being shaped as an eight-point star with small spikes.

There are many transitional forms between these two extremes. There are species resembling five-point stars that have long, pronounced spikes that offer additional defense against microbial predators. This often comes at the cost to the strength of their poison. Another species native to the Terra watershed is Sanguiflumis acerbustella (Top). While it often produces harmful red tides, the most it can do to those that ingest the water is sicken them. Drinking infested water often has purgative effects in terrestrial fauna. There are many more species with middling qualities like S. acerbustella. Common traits among bloodtides include a star-shaped body plan with 5-8 points. The points can vary in length, with species possessing longer spines generally being less toxic. All of these species however, can sicken fauna to varying degrees when blooming. The flagella of your average bloodtide species is middling in proportion to the body, resulting in decent swimming ability.

Sanguiflumis dingustella (Left) is another star-shaped bloodtide native the vernal pools of Dingus. It possesses a trait all bloodtides have but is more noticeable in this one. Bloodtides are capable of encysting themselves in a thickened cell wall when exposed to dry conditions, which allows it to survive in dry conditions for extended periods of time. When encysting themselves, Bloodtides will shed their flagella and encase the site with additional cell wall to help prevent descication. However, these flagella will regenerate when the bloodtide leaves its cyst stage. Sanguiflumis dingustella uses this adaptation to wait for vernal pools to appear in the woodlands of Dingus during the spring. However, it does best in the constantly forming puddles of the island's temperate rainforests. Sanguiflumis dingustella has some of the smallest flagella in relation to its body size, making it one of the slowest species. This, however, is compensated for by its spikes and rapid reproduction, which is one of the fastest of any bloodtide species. Puddles in Dingus' wetter biomes often are often blood-red due to their proliferation.

Bloodtides have two modes of reproduction. The most common is asexual mitosis, where an individual divides into two identical copies. However, when conditions worsen, Bloodtides are known to engage in sexual meiosis. Two individuals will fuse together and recombine their DNA. More often than not this new fused cell will then sink to the bottom of whatever body of water they're in and form a cyst, where they'll divide into four new cells and wait for conditions to improve. Other times, the fused cell will divide on the spot, producing four genetically distinct offspring.