Swarmerkings

Swarmerkings are various microswarmers which have altered their tentacles into holdfasts, allowing them to cling to rocks, flora, and one another. They have developed a flattened leaf-like shape and can orient themselves towards the sun. Their name comes from their tendency to stick together by their holdfasts, which can cause them to resemble Terran ratkings or perhaps the Gillkings of another time and place.

Swarmerkings are unique among swarmers in that they are nitrogen fixers. Some of their chloroplasts are modified to skip the oxygen-generating step of photosynthesis, and they use the hydrogen they have obtained in combination with atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to form ammonium (NH4+). This allows them to thrive in habitats with less usable nitrogen, as they can produce their own to form the compounds they need to survive. They are significantly more effective nitrogen fixers than the chemotrophic Nitrocycle microbes, so they have actually begun to outcompete some of the nitrogen-fixing Nitrocycles in sunlit habitats. The only thing preventing them from completely outcompeting nitrogen-fixing Nitrocycles in sunlit regions is the fact that said Nitrocycles form symbiotic relationships with flora, which the Swarmerkings have no access to. Anywhere where such flora don’t exist, however, Swarmerkings can completely dominate the nitrogen fixer niche, with actual nitrogen-fixing Nitrocycles only being present because of their faster rate of reproduction.

There are many, many species of Swarmerking. They can live in any habitat which has moisture, including on ice and in soil. Species which reside in dry and icy habitats are able to go dormant as needed to wait out poor conditions, being able to withstand both desiccation and freezing.