Ambraki

Replacing their ancestor, Krakowhexia polychlorochaetes, ambraki have evolved a two-stage life cycle. In their juvenile stage, they live and reproduce similarly to their ancestor, wandering the open seas. As juveniles, they still reproduce in the same way, via fragmentation or budding. The basic anatomy of juveniles is six arms equidistant about the center, each with eight tentacles in a ring on each tip. The tentacles are covered in cilia and completely lack the ability to photosynthesize. One difference from their ancestor is they now have the ability to perform limited movement. Because of their highly symmetrical and non-directional anatomy, ambraki movements seem chaotic and random. While they lack a nervous system, chemical reactions taking place from the side facing the surface, from their ability to photosynthesize, help direct their movements. Outside photosynthesis, juveniles feed by capturing food on their tentacles. Cilia on the tentacles both hold onto food and direct it to the area in the center of the tentacles, where it is absorbed. When an ambraki happens to land on a surface, a change occurs. The set of tentacles that first hits the surface clings to it holding it fast. In addition to nearly doubling in size, an ambraki will then change shape so that the other five arms and their respective tentacles will bend upwards, away from the surface. This sessility allows an ambraki to better catch food in its environment, allowing the current of the water to bring food to it. Though they will latch onto any surface, they do best in warm tropical areas near the surface. As such, while juveniles are found throughout the temperate and tropical oceans, adults are most commonly found in the East Glicker Tropical Coast and the Wright-Orpington Tropical Sea. Unlike the juveniles, adult ambraki do not reproduce by budding. Instead, when a juvenile ambraki is captured, it fuses with the part of the adult it is captured on. That portion of the adult is then autonomously ejected and metamorphosizes into two, new, genetically-merged juveniles. They can still reproduce via fragmentation, though any such fragments will revert to a juvenile state.