Cavedron

The cavedron split from it's ancestor and formed a symbiotic relationship with the cave rustmold. Living on the walls of the caves, they are provided nutrients by the cave rustmold in exchange for their spores being spread. The cave rustmold also break down the minerals in the ash and limestone, allowing the cavedron to use them for nutrients, in exchange for the waste products that they produce. The cavedron extract water from the air, which both use. They are able to cling to wall and ceilings because of modified tentacles that burrow into the rock, then inflate at the bottom. They wait for a clingerpede to eat them causing the bulbs to be ingested. These bulbs are now indigestable by the clingerpede, and are expelled in their waste. These contain both the cavedron embryos and spores cases for the cave rustmold. Those found near the cave entrances still photosynthesize. They have made it all the way into the Darwin Water Table, thanks to the drooling wall, growing on the ceilings and walls above the water.