The glaalgae replaced its ancestor, the octocryotower. It has grown to ten times its ancestors size, which makes it 1 mm tall. It has hundreds of cells now and they have formed glass-like lenses all over its trunk. These help intensify the light that shines on its blue photosynthetic cells. In addition the lenses keep it warmer in the frozen tundra. So much so that they can sometime melt the snow around them. Since they are so small they make the ground appear to sparkle. Like their ancestors they are very efficient in getting nutrients from the ice and soil. They need very little nutrients to grow and can live on ice. It developed asexual budding in which smaller glaalage buds off a larger one.
Living Relatives (click to show/hide)
These are randomly selected, and organized from lowest to highest shared taxon. (This may correspond to similarity more than actual relation)
