Gildbowl

The gildbowl split from its ancestor. As life arrived on Mason on an orbit voltflora seed, only a few forms of life were present. The empty niches, along with increased levels of radiation, led to a "Oathinian Explosion", with many new evolutions of the original hitchhiker organisms. It has become truly multicellular, possesing some specialized cells which has allowed it to better adapt to its new home on Mason. It lives in and near the tidepools that are commonly found along the beach, in moist sands and melt pools in the scrub, and the wet sand and shallow water near the beach edge. It has two main adaptions that set it apart from its ancestor. Its layer of cells has formed a bowl covered in a thin, almost transparent membrane that traps in air, and warms the air to keep it floating on the water, or give it enough buoyancy to keep its "bowl" off the ground. The length of its root-stalk varies upon whether it is in the water, or on land, and the root-stalk, given enough time, can push through soft rock. It now forms a symbiotic relationship with the hitchhiker nitroid, which provides it with fixed nitrogen in return for nutrients. To reproduce, it severs the connection to its membrane, which floats into the air and fragments into many clumps of three or four cells.