Replacing its ancestor, the surface saltswarmer has further adapted to life in the Ninth Salt Lake by increasing in size to filter more particles out of the water, increasing the size of its fins to swim better (and losing length on its tentacles at the same time since the fins provided better movement), and gaining the behavioral adaptation of skimming the surface of the water with the top portion of its mouth, where the greatest concentrations of salt moss float. It also photosynthesizes with a greater area of its body, although it still gains most of its nutrients from filtering the water.
Living Relatives (click to show/hide)
These are randomly selected, and organized from lowest to highest shared taxon. (This may correspond to similarity more than actual relation)