Deep Shroom

The Deep Shroom is a hazardous flora species found in abundance in the Blood Kelp Zones and their caves, in small clusters, and in the Lost River and the Sea Treader's Tunnel Caves. It is a relative of the Acid Mushroom, and is used as a raw material in the manufacturing of Hydrochloric Acid.

The player can pick a Deep Shroom by hand to get a single fully-grown plant, or strike it with a knife to harvest four Deep Shroom Spores which can be placed in a planter. The Shroom is destroyed in a single hit and places all four spores in the player's inventory at the same time: if the player does not have sufficient space, any surplus spores are lost.

Destroying the Shroom releases a small puff of acid which deals up to 8 damage to anything caught in the area of effect. Backing away immediately after striking with the knife can be used to avoid this damage.

Both a Deep Shroom and its spores can be planted in an Exterior Growbed or an Alien Containment, spores requiring some time to grow. Deep Shrooms placed in these devices will not deal damage to the player even if struck with the knife.

Appearance
The Deep Shroom appears as a stout mushroom with a white cap, becoming pink towards the center, and a dark grey stem. It is identical in shape to its relative, the Acid Mushroom, as they share the same model but have different colorations.

Behavior
Like the Acid Mushroom, the Deep Shroom possesses highly acidic compounds in its flesh that leach into the water if its skin is pierced. Harvesting spores from the Deep Shroom with a knife triggers its acidic release, dealing 8 damage to anything nearby, as mentioned earlier. Given that Deep Shrooms are extremely common in the biomes where they are present, the player generally does not need to harvest spores from wild examples.

It is possible for a Deep Shroom's destruction to cause a chain reaction, damaging other surrounding Deep Shrooms enough so that they burst as well. The aggregate damage from this can be quite high if the player is in the middle of the area of effect.

Deep Shrooms will shrink upon fluctuations in the local water pressure such as if the player approaches them, and will return to their original size if the player holds still or leaves the area.

Trivia

 * The difference in coloration between the Deep Shroom and the Acid Mushroom is an evolutionary mechanic which is also found in many other flora and fauna species in Subnautica as well as many real-life animal and plant species in which there is a loss of pigmentation due to restrictions in available nutrients.
 * Some Trello notes refer to the Deep Shroom as the Ghost Mushroom.
 * The Deep Shroom is the only Flora species present in the Inactive Lava Zone.

Champi abyssal