SC.2023.15. Schupla

A strange pluricellular organism, strangest for its combination of fern, fungi and lichen traits.

Located halfway between Lai Dang and Minao Island, in Kagomei, but off the coast of Moniq, the atoll of Undana-Ré is home to this rare adaptation: a combination of fern, cyanobacteria and fungi. Its cells saturated with the sulfuric compounds emitted by the nearby volcanic vents, its chemistry is off the charts. Unless specially prepared, making a meal of this flowing greenery would give any unadapted fauna a fatal indigestion.

Fully capable of photosynthesis when exposed to air, but using alternate reactions in anoxic environments, such as the stems when submerged in water without sufficient oxygen, in both cases, the 'plant' for lack of a sufficiently inclusive term, is fully capable of generating its own sugars. Interestingly, the reproduction of the plant involves the fern and fungi part generating spores, 'infecting' them with the blue algae and spreading them, in some cases, the fungi and cyanobacter occur without the fern, or the fern and cyanobacter occur without the fungi, but that is usually short-lived, as the atoll is literally bathed in spores from both, and germination of the third component of the compound organism makes it a complete member of this quite unusual specimen. As it is the only living organism capable of photosynthesis on the atoll, its presence is quite obligatory, without it, the atoll would be depopulated in a short time.

— Unusual maritime fauna of Asirania, Florin Haban New Tsou City Press, 812AK.

Basic Information

Anatomy

With large, nenuphar-like "leaves", well ferns, this large vegetal's roots anchor it up to three meters below the water's surface, as it tends to prefer mangrove-like conditions on the atoll.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The ferns, or leaves, appear to be thermotrophic, exposing the maximum surface to heat, and so give the uncanny impression that they are warming their 'hands' on nearby volcanic rocks.

Scientific Name

Schupli Cyanolichenasis

Geographic Distribution

• SC.2023.11. Undana-Ré atoll

Discovered by

SC.2023.17. Florin Haban