| Boball | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| General Information | |||
| Classification | Testudohexapodia mandalori | ||
| Homeworld | Sagan IV | ||
| Environment | Darwin Polar Beach | ||
| Intelligence | Non-Sapient | ||
| Biochemistry | Carbon-based lifeform | ||
| Biological Information | |||
| Average Width | 7cm | ||
| Locomotion | Sessile | ||
| Feeding Behavior | Autotroph | ||
| Cladogramatical Information | |||
| Cultural Information | |||
| Personality | Mindless | ||
| Organization | Colonies | ||
| Scientific Taxonomy | |||
| Planet | Sagan IV | ||
| Genus | Testudohexapodia | ||
| Species | mandalori | ||
| Other Information | |||
| Status | Extinct | ||
| Creator | Somarinoa | ||
While many flora competed within the Darwin Polar Beach range, a number of molted hydroglobes began to adapt a new ability that allowed them to carve out an even bigger niche, giving them a powerful foothold in the area. The new species, known as the boballs, are an offshoot to their ancestral species. Even so, they've pushed their ancestor back beyond the water line of the beach, although their relative, the volvoglobe, still may enter the area thanks to their rolling dispersal of new members. Neither of the species have been eradicated from the area.
Boballs' main adaptation is a new layer in their body, located between the skin and the inner pulp, which is used to store salt which they have ingested through contact with saltwater. This causes them to become incredibly salty in taste, and if an organism attempts to consume too many of them at once without proper intake of fresh water, they will contract hypervolemic hypernatremia without proper protection against such high saline levels. In minor cases, this can cause an organism to become lethargic and weak, leading to it potentially become prey to another species; irritability, which causes them to oftentimes become more aggressive; and edema, which may make it more difficult to escape predators due to the awkwardness of moving on swelled limbs. In severe cases this will cause the victim to enter into a seizure or even slip into a coma and perish. Because of this dangerous adaptation, most boballs that are consumed are either still young and thereby not containing much salt or are too far away from the water line to properly intake salt.
This new evolution is supported by a new style of markings. These warning markings are very primitive, and while certainly abstract in design and not a new, more bold color in order to continue their photosynthetic capabilities, the design is obvious to those organisms who have learned through instinct to avoid consuming them. They are not found within a specific range of polar cellulosebanes due to their cellulose-dissolving chemicals found within their spores.