Macululuchia

The macululuchia split from its ancestor and evolved some attributes that make it more suitable to live near the surface. There, its spores easily can spread away mixed with the ocean’s spray. Differently from malakommalis, this parasite will prefer to grow and spread on the skin instead of quickly turn the host into stone. When the spores of macululuchia are swallowed by the sea creatures they will try to attach to the gastric walls and grow there. They are very similar to malakommalis ones, but they are protected by a hard membrane that protects them from chemical damage.

When growing from inside to outside, it will chose preferential ways, those where the cells of the host are more separated or where those cells are softer. Like on malakommalis, it will drain the cellular content and expel some salts into them. Blood vessels are damaged and blocked by salt crystals, which start to flow into them, leading to serious injures on the creature. Near the skin, it will grow mainly in pores or spaces between cells, forming tiny structures that abruptly reach the skin. There, macululuchia initially will be perceived as tiny dots on the skin, easily observable in the dark.

While during the day sick creatures are like the healthy ones, at night, when only a tenuous moonlight is present, they can be an easy target for predators when trying to hide or swimming around. The spores of macululuchia are bioluminescent when maturating, and these are easily visible at night. In this way, it will turn the host visible and an easy target to predators, which can eat the host and become a new home for macululuchia. After fully maturate the spores are released and, unlike its ancestor, the parasite continues growing on the skin surface around its dead cells, extracting cellular fluids from them and producing new bioluminescent spores in the end. After some days, the initial spots become small rings and these are even more visible in the dark. Macululuchia will grow over its host until completely colonize most of the cells of the skin; when it no more find a suitable place to grow it finally dies. In this way, those creatures seriously sick, where the number of spores is massive, have several flashing patterns and lack completely in mimicry. Very infected creatures are also heavier and, if not devoured by other, will die and sink.