Popover Sporal

+| Property | Value |+| :--- | :--- |+| **Type** | Anchored |+| **Category** | Sponges |+| **Attitude** | Passive |+| **Biome** | Root Canyon |+ +A **Popover Sporal** is a type of sponge found in the Root Canyon.+ +## Appearance+ +*Section requires expansion.*+ +## Databank Entry+ +**Sporal zymes**, the leavened sporal. Resembles a popover pastry.+ +### 1. Leavener+The popover sporal's coral denizens cultivate a strain of hyphenate algae. (Algae on this world descended from a star-like 'solarian' cell, while all animal life descended from an elongated 'polarian' cell.) Instead of feeding on sunlight, this algae ferments sugars into alcohols, producing carbon dioxide as a waste product.+ +### 2. Gas trap+The popover retains its carbon dioxide gas until it reaches critical pressure, when it trickles out through valves into the water column. This dissolved carbon helps grow new generations of plankton.+ +### 3. Low oxygen scavenger+The popover thrives in low-oxygen, high-sugar conditions such as those following an algae bloom. While organisms cannot evolve 'to benefit the environment' because evolution lacks long-term planning, the popover sporal does help slow down runaway carbon dioxide buildup in the water and the atmosphere by holding carbon internally.+ +### 4. No relationship+Despite frequent gene exchange in the Protean biosphere, the algae in the popover sporal evolved their fermentation method independently from other species. Optogenetic analysis detects alternative fermentation pathways which produce methane or other gases rather than carbon dioxide.+ +**Assessment:** ecologically useful brake on carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. Popover sporals might help protect their habitats from dangerous buildup of carbonic acid.+ +*Source: Scan a Popover Sporal*+ +## Gallery+ +![Popover Sporals in the Root Canyon](Popover_Sporal_Ingame.png)