Cloudbubble

The Cloudbubble replaced its ancestor. With a rise in flora and fauna that use the atmosphere for distribution, it takes advantage of this new food source with sticky elongated root-like tendrils which capture aeroplankton. It has also developed flagella-bearing tendrils, which are activated by atmospheric conditions and allow it to “swim” towards moisture. This allows it to also take advantage of a vast, untapped water source—clouds.

Cloudbubbles can be found free-floating, but massive populations of them can often be seen dotting the upper “surface” of clouds. They are not technically attached to the surface of the cloud, rather if they start to drift they “swim” back into it. They will also “swim” upwards to the surface of the cloud if they end up too deep inside and don’t have any light. The Cloudbubble’s food source of aeroplankton is robust enough that it can reproduce in the sky, ejecting spores directly into its cloud. These are collected and fertilized by other Cloudbubbles on the same cloud, then released again. They can also “bud” in a manner resembling cell division—essentially, macro-scale binary fission. It no longer needs to return to the ground to reproduce, though it is capable of doing so.

The Cloudbubble floats using hydrogen. This is produced by an unusual symbiote—the Cloudbubble Cryoutine. As it no longer needs to produce their own floating gasses, it is able to spend more energy on reproduction and durability. Free-living Cloudbubble Cryoutines are found inside clouds, so fertilized Cloudbubble spores only begin to develop when they enter a cloud and meet a symbiote.

With its better food and water sources and use of symbiosis, the Cloudbubble has a lot of energy left over for other features. It is much more durable than its ancestor; though it can be popped by stepping on it, it can easily be rolled between two fingers without causing any damage except perhaps to its tendrils. This makes it more resilient to the powerful winds of the upper atmosphere, and it allows it to survive its cloud raining. It and its spores contribute greatly to aeroplankton, and they may serve as a vital base to a new sky ecosystem.