Bubble Siliconium

Split off from Siliconium, the Bubble Siliconium lives in deep waters similar to its ancestor where it has little competition for light due to it being one of the only organisms which uses blue light. The Bubble Siliconium is named for its tiny spherical bubble-shaped colonies. When less light becomes available, such as because of another organism growing nearby casting a shadow, individual cells will clump together via their resin coatings into balls up to 1 cm tall. These colonial balls roughly mimic the size and feel of a mosshroom to trick oblivious Nightgrazers into eating them and spreading them elsewhere. This works because, like its ancestor, its cell membrane is coated in silicone resin which is indigestible to most organisms and gives it a similar glossy feel to crystal flora in its colonial state; even after the colony is broken up by the Nightgrazer's beak, a good number of cells survive and pass right through the digestive tract. In especially deep waters, it lives a slower life due to the lower intensity of the light available; as nothing can digest it, this is not yet a problem for its survival. Still, it is far more abundant in the shallower parts of its range where it can live and reproduce more quickly.