Colonialballs

The colonialball genus group replaced its ancestors the colonialball and island colonialball. Their main distinguishing feature is their forming of large buoyant colonies that drift on the currents, passively photosynthesizing. Most colonialballs are descendants of the island colonialballs which, thanks to their root-like nodules providing anchorage points for nitrogen-fixing microbes, have diversified to all major temperate and tropical marine waterways on the planet. A few members of the genus are derived from more primitive basal colonialballs, which eke out existences in isolated pockets in areas their relatives have not yet reached, such as low oxygen wetlands or freshwater ecoregions. They have limited tolerances to freezing, so are not generally found in polar environments unless as part of a large colony of other flora.

Within their molted bodies is a small amount of fresh water which they have separated from the surrounding salt water in order to make themselves lighter than it, as well as to supply their photosynthetic functions. While colonies of non open ocean species rarely grow very large due to predation or weather, some rare ones can be found almost reaching the size of small islands. However at these sizes individuals deep within the mass tend to die out due to being unable to photosynthesize, eventually resulting in the colonies breaking up. Separated colonies are able to adhere to each other if currents keep them in contact long enough. Their roots and purple masses will eventually fuse, allowing for nutrient exchange between the colonies. Open ocean species, which have a greater likelihood of reaching large sizes, have developed adaptations which help keep this down. Once cutoff from sunlight, these masses will atrophy all structures save for those meant for structural support, kept alive through the shared nutrient exchanges. These connective tissues are strong enough to hold them together at large sizes, but can be broken by heavy storms. Their adhering abilities make them excellent symbiots for diaminet or other colonies.

They all reproduce via either producing spores which join the plankton that surrounds them, or by having various individual orbs fall off and start new colonies. Genetic exchange does occur, but primarily between fused colonies, which allow for gene exchange through horizontal gene transfer. Large, old colonies tend to be the most genetically diverse for this reason, which allows for greater adaptive potential.

Integrated species ---
 * Colonialball
 * Island Colonialball