Crueleaf

In the open ocean, nutrients sometimes proved scarce. The Crueleaf split off from the Matleaf to take in an additional, larger food source, mostly consisting of small and baby fauna.

The Crueleaf no longer lives in the great ancestral mats, though it still floats at or near the surface. Its elongated filter baits are much thicker and designed to capture small prey to absorb and digest by entangling them. It will also digest subwebs that attempt to use its elongated filter baits to make their webs. The ends of its baits are slightly weighted, helping to prevent it from flipping over, and it has a more curved shape to better control its height in the water through more efficient jellyfish-like swimming.

The crueleaf is otherwise like its ancestor; it is a mixotroph which performs photosynthesis and filter-feeds in addition to its new predatory habits, and it reproduces through fragmentation.