Doesn't sound very nice, "slime mould", does it?
These weird and wondrous organisms aren't fungi, but "organisms that can live freely as single cells, but can aggregate together to form multicellular structures."
Here's an example of such a structure doing an impression of candle wax. I think it is red raspberry slime (Tubulifera arachnoidea), rossig buiskussen in Dutch:
Olympus XZ-1, 28mm, ISO400, f5.6, 1/50s
Here's another species, doing an impression of starship Enterprise on the move. It is called scrambled egg slime or dog vomit slime mold (Fuligo septica), heksenboter in Dutch:
Olympus Stylus 1s, 42mm, ISO400, f4, 1/125s
Strange thing is: it actually is on the move!
"When food is in short supply, many of these single-celled organisms will congregate and start moving as a single body. They can readily change the shape and function of parts and may form stalks that produce fruiting bodies."
They move very slowly though, so no need for short shutter speeds or running away in panic. Still, strange stuff, this.
Thanks for watching!
The quotes are from Wikipedia. The photos are mine, as always.
Are you all right, it did not attack you?
No, I probably didn't stand still long enough 8-).
Wow! I've never seen (or perhaps noticed) such a growth on trees before. I'll have to look for something similar in my own area. Thanks for sharing. :)
I don't see them often here, but they do stand out ...
Looks pretty and disgusting at the same time. Blhac
slime mould, dog vomit slime mold mmmhmmm music to my ears :p
Did you touch the orange one?
No, should I want to?
Duuhh...
How would you and your dear readers know if its slimy, or soft, or rubbery...
I've never seen slime moulds in pretty colours before - only the milky/clear ones. Thought they were random blobs of frog spawn at first :)
Beautiful & interesting
Weird doesn't even begin to cover their strangeness. I see the Dog Vomit slime mold most often. But would I know a single-celled slime mold, if I saw it? Could I actually see it? There's a horror movie in there, somewhere -- as all the slime molds are called together, to take on a global enemy...... I hope you can photograph more slime molds!
That is a scary thought, all slime moulds moving in ... Colourful, though.
I am thinking f going hiking tomorrow and was just hoping to myself that i would find some slime molds!
Some researchers a few years back discovered that Slime Molds make better city planners than the people who are paid to do it! lol.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/18/slime-mould-rail-road-transport-routes
and this wondrous oddity: