Phytops

Phytops is the third boss in Spirit Tracks. It appears to be a cross between an Octorok and a thorned plant who resides in a pool atop a giant pillar in the Ocean Temple.

Strategy
Phytops resides on a pillar of grey stone that has a large pool of water at the top. The Whip is necessary to climb to the top of the pillar, as there are several  pegs sticking out of the wall that are necessary to traverse. However, as Link makes his way to the top, the thorned tentacles of the beast  will attempt to attack the young hero,  though grabbing one of its thorns with the Whip and throwing it back to  its open eye will force them to retract. Moreover, Phytops will occasionally launch a purple slime that Link must dodge. Once Link reaches the top of the pillar, he must grab onto a propeller by using the Whip, where it will take him to the pool where Phytops is.

Phytops will start attacking with his tentacles as soon as the fight begins. A smack with the Whip will send a tentacle reeling back to its master, however. Link's main objective in this fight is to find and attack the beast's Weak Point, its eye, although at the beginning, it is being concealed by the pink blobs that are all over his head. While Phytops' tentacles surround Link, he must grab one of the thorns from its tentacles with the use of the Whip and throw it back at the monster, which will uncover part of its eye. Repeating this process again reveals the full eye, so Link must throw a third thorn to the eye to make Phytops approach the end of the pool, where it will drop its head at the edge and allow Link to repeatedly attack its open eye with the sword.

After being hit once, Phytops begins to strike back more violently, firing globs of purple acid from concealed funnels in its head. Link must first avoid these projectile blobs, but the biggest threat is what happens when the jets impact- a small acid spill is created, and if Link steps on these when he is running from the beast's tentacles, he will take considerable damage. Phytops will also begin to attack Link with all four tentacles, two giving him a small range of movement and two actively attacking him. After a while, the beast calms down and the fight resumes. After the second hit, however, Phytops will revert to attacking rapidly with four tentacles as the norm, making the final three whip blows difficult to land. After being hit enough times in the eye with Link's sword, Phytops ultimately falls, giving up its Force Gem to Link.

Trivia

 * In the PAL version of Spirit Tracks, Phytops is named Cactops. The name is likely derived from "cactus" and "cyclops", as the boss has many thorn-covered tentacles and one eye.
 * Phytop's name may be derived from "phytoplankton," a microscopic kind of marine creature that can photosynthesize like a plant, hence Phytop's plant-like body, and, as in the PAL version, "cyclops", denoting its single eye.
 * This boss is similar to Phantom Hourglass' final boss, Bellum.
 * The place Phytops is fought is at the top part of the Ocean Temple that is visible over the Ocean Floor.
 * The music while climbing to Phytops is very similar to the Goron Mines music.