Scrapercell

Scrapercells first split from cerberesi through a behavioral change. Instead of preferring the ocean surface, with its clouds of photosagania, they focused more on the ocean floor. One especially lucrative prey option was carpetesta, which existed in thin layered mats consisting of small clumps of four cells.

To perfect this predation technique, scrapercells modified their feeding pseudopods into scraper shapes, which would slide between an individual clump and the rest of the mat to tear it away and then absorb it. Such a scraping technique was also useful for removing any other floor-dwelling microbes and also to remove accumulated organic detritus, which could supplement their diet. If a scrapercell chanced upon a wormreef, that would contain useful nourishment as well, given the nutrient bath pervading their interiors.

At face value, clingowhexia might seem ideal food for scrapercells as well, given their surface-clinging lifestyle. Indeed, a successful scrapercell might well feed on them. However, at nearly the same size, clingowhexia are a risky proposition, as their flagella might entangle a scrapercell and reverse their roles.

Scrapercells retain the three pseudopods that serve like flagella for propulsion. These pseudopods also contain light receptors that allow them to distinguish the bright surface from the darker floor. Given the change in diet, they no longer have as purple a color, tending more toward a bluish hue, but as they still occasionally snack on purple photosynthesizers, a subtle hint of purple remains.

Scrapercells mostly reproduce asexually by mitosis. However, they can also deposit tiny packets of genetic material that stick to the surfaces that they scrape from. If another scrapercell comes along, it may scrape off that packet and incorporate some of those genes into itself.