Lava Bud

A Lava Bud is a juvenile Lava Piranha. Two of them, along with a Lava Piranha, are the bosses of Chapter 5 in the Nintendo 64 game Paper Mario.

In a Lava Piranha patch, there is usually one mature stalk for every two juveniles. Lava Buds reproduce via spores; if confronted with danger, they will fire spores – Petit Piranhas – at enemies, but otherwise will just randomly spit spores. Lava Buds will not die as long as the oldest Lava Piranha in the patch is alive. Once the mature one dies, the buds lose the nutrients they were receiving from the adult and wither.

Lava Buds bear a strong resemblance to Naval Buds.