Flora I-Kingdom: Tonarecapere
Tonarecapere includes all flora on Ein. Multicellular methanogens capture electromagnetic radiation generated by Serak to split apart hydrogen and helium, they provide the base of the ecosystem. Found anywhere from hotspots, ice ridges, the methane sea, and even the organically created icebergs that float on it, without them life would have run out of materials to metabolize long ago. Four major divisions of Tonarecapere exist, which will be detailed in the following three posts.
- Division: Anuludolucea
Generic member of AnuludoluceaDivision Anuludolucea is the most widespread division of flora on Ein. Characteristic of the division are three large "rings" that encompass the upper part at equal intervals. These rings serve two purposes. The first, and most important, is the collection of electromagnetic energy. In the center of each ring is a hardened tube that doubles as a skeletal structure. The interior is filled with thousands of cytocoils, cells lined up in single-celled strings, coiled in shape, and possessing high concentrations of conductive materials. If one were to examine the individual cells closely, they would see that most of the organelles, including the nuclei, are located near the exterior of the organism. The so-called tonaplasts, the original endosymbiotic methanogens, are connected together in tight coils in the center, whose ends lead out and and connect to the tonaplasts in the next cell up the chain. Once the tonaplasts feel an electric current running through them, they then bring in water from the interior of their host, and apply it so that the hydrogen and oxygen is released through the exterior membrane. The oxygen and hydrogen diffuse first through the cell, then through the exterior coating of the tube.
The arteries of members of the division Anduludolus follow long, winding tracks throughout the body. Starting at the base(which we will get to in a bit), the primary artery comes up the center of the base and up to the top of the organism. There it splits into three parts, wrapping around the exterior of the tubes(primarily the undersides, where the "gills" are found), before meeting up at the base of the upper bulge. The oxygen carrier in Tonarecapere resembles that of haemerythrin, giving it a bright purple hue when oxygenated. Carrying oxygen and hydrogen from the tubes, it releases the oxygen through its gills, exchanging it for carbon dioxide which joins the bloodstream as carbonic acid.
We next find ourselves at the base of the organism. In the picture above, all one can see is the top of the organism. This is only half of the organism, however. Underneath the organism, a massive bulb centers the flora and keeps it in place. Near the top of the organism, but just underground, a literal web of roots radiate horizontally at even intervals from the base, joining up to form a spiderweb patter that extends outward for roughly the height of the organism. At each intersection of four roots, a tap root drills downward to gather water. This way the structural integrity of the bedrock below the organism is not degraded.
The bulb itself is primarily composed of a giant storage chamber for whatever oxygen is left in the bloodstream. Oxygen and methane are sent out to the end of the roots to produce heat, which melts the water-ice bedrock. A thick layer of muscle surrounds the chamber, compressing it to form a solid base from which the organisms's muscles can move around. The entire inner wall of the base contracts and expands, acting as a heart to coordinate blood movement from both the roots and the tubes.
The outer layer of the bulb is a thick, hard material of the same kind as the tubes, and surrounds the pumping region. Roughly seven centimeters thick, the side facing the heart is what is interesting. There the layer is embedded with millions of microscopic chambers connecting to the main chamber via a single pore per chamber, and whose interiors are coated with a cell layer two cells thick. The outer layer is composed of muscle cells, pushing blood in and out of the chamber. The inner layer is composed of "digestive" cells, whom combine CO2 and Hydrogen from the bloodstream in their organelles into methane, producing ATP for the entire organism.
Like all organisms, however, these complex flora would be useless if they had no way to create a near-exact copy of themselves. For this their gills are made to serve a secondary use. Through a process comparable to meiosis, cells split into cells with only one nuclei. The ones without the reproductive nuclei die off, while the ones that do are released onto the gills. From here, three things can happen. Either the cells can travel to another organism through the wind, but this is less common. The most common method in many species is to simply fall onto the methane sea, which because of it being made of methane allow the cells to float, and not dissolve. The intense cold kills many cells, but enough survive to be captured in the bottom area of the gills, which during high-high tide are usually just barely submerged. Another common method is pollination by fauna, but that will be elaborated on later. One the gills have received genetic material, it will be put to use, so that the lower ends of the gills constantly manufacture bud-seeds to release at high tide. These are generally just elongated bulbs, filled with oxygen and methane in different chambers to use as fuel until they can harvest electromagnetic radiation themselves. Once low tide is reached, and the base touches bare water-ice, it will establish roots which will hold it in place when the tide rises.
While Anuldolusites can live in many areas in the methane sea, they thrive best in the shallow or normal areas, and can range anywhere from ten centimeters to a massive five meters.