Felivorms and Elagaflora

Each family unit of felivorms typically claims a single elagaflora, a species of lithoflora that descends from the towering arduflora, living within its crevices and among its crystalline branches. Found in the shallows, these elegant structures provide both shelter and sustenance for their vorm inhabitants. Felivorms graze delicately on the microbial films, cyanophytes, and drifting organic particles that settle on the surfaces of the elagaflora. This cleaning behavior benefits their hosts, preventing the buildup of unwanted microbial growths that could block the lithoflora’s nutrient absorption surfaces. In turn, the dense, swaying branches of the elagaflora offer felivorms protection from predators, such as small maculovorms or darting alacricrowns, who find it difficult to maneuver through the labyrinthine structures.

A fascinating aspect of felivorm life is their strong attachment to specific elagaflora structures. A felivorm family will typically claim a single elagaflora as their home, rarely leaving unless external factors—such as competition, food scarcity, or environmental changes—force them to relocate.

Within their lithofloran homes, felivorms engage in social grooming behaviors, rubbing their soft bodies against one another and using their mouths to clean each other’s skin of debris and parasites. These social interactions strengthen family bonds and reduce stress, a trait not commonly observed in many vorm lineages.

As a virifer felivorm approaches their matrifer stage, some will venture to new elagaflora to establish their own families, searching through inhabited elagaflora for a young virifer or two to accompany the new matriach. This dispersal helps spread genetic diversity among felivorm populations and prevents overcrowding within a single lithofloran structure

The movement of felivorms between elagaflora plays a critical role in their reproductive cycle. When a felivorm leaves one lithoflora in search of another, they accidentally carry spores and gametes attached to their bodies. This unintentional transport serves as a form of pollination, facilitating genetic exchange and dispersal among the elagaflora population. 

In a way, felivorms act as the bees of the shallows, aiding the spread of their towering hosts even as they rely on them for shelter. Driven by this form of inadvertant dispersal, elagaflora have become the dominant lithoflora species of the equitorial coasts in Atmos's oceans.