Marine Lilypad

Marine Lilypads are small plants that commonly grow in tight clusters together, supporting their pads with a thin tether and small air sacs. These plants can deflate their air sacs and let the pad drop to the ground, to lessen the chance the tether will be destroyed, which would cause the plant to die.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Marine Lilypads resemble lilypads from the surface world except... marine. They attach themselves to the ground with thin organic tethers, the top of which contain small buoyant air sacs that make the pad part of the plant stay afloat. The pad is shaped like a circle, with a shallow indent towards the middle.

Genetics and Reproduction

Since small creatures have a tendency to hide under these pads, they have taken advantage of it by coating them in spores during manual dispersals. Some of the spores will not survive for long, but those that do will tend to fall off their host in the same place, allowing them to grow into a new cluster.

Growth Rate & Stages

Newborn lilies will stick to the ground, and appear as though a surface lilypad had fallen to the bottom of the ocean. With age, their tether will start to grow, and the pad will be lifted by the newly formed air sacs. During this stage, some pads may come to competition with each other from growing in the same spot, but the cluster will eventually reach a period of stability.

Ecology and Habitats

These lilies only grow in the Forests, and are widespread among the seafloor, growing mainly in dense groupings of plant life. Some clusters have been found growing in the faces of rock formations.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Marine Lilypads are chemosynthetic just like most Nightlight Zone plants.

Biological Cycle

Marine Lilypads will constantly have to replace a neighbor that has been destroyed or eaten, dispersing a single spore nearby to ensure the cluster remains strong.

Additional Information

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Several inedible varieties of this species find themselves becoming temporary homes for small creatures looking to build nests, or hide from large predators' sight. They always use these creatures to carry their spores to a new area to grow.

Scientific Name

Nymphaeceae marus

Lifespan

Unknown

Average Height

8 ft.

Average Weight

40 lbs

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Green in color

Geographic Distribution

• The Kelp Forests