Slime moulds – Nature Journeys

Yup … More Slime Forecast …

Not Ghostbusters slime … but Mycetozoa – slime moulds, more discovered this time in local woods. This species looks to be the same as in the previous post Trichia botrytis. Like all slime moulds, they creep across a surface very slowly devouring food until they run out, and when they run out they will release their spores.

These appear to be in the early stages of ripening. Each Sporocarp – the bright fruiting bodies you see – are around 5 mm (1/4 in) tall and 0.8 mm (3/64 in) in diameter, so they can be easily missed out in the field unless you keep an eye out for them. These were found on the underside of fallen bark on the ground.

11/2011/20 by Peter Hillman Categories: PhotographyTags: Nature, Nature Photography, Slime moulds, south staffordshire wildlife, Trichia botrytis 17 Comments

More Slime

This tiny, brightly coloured slime mould is called Trichia botrytis. It thrives on dead wood, and is quite variable in colour.

This was found on the underside of loose bark, and autumn is the time of year that slime moulds mainly make their appearance.

11/2011/20 by Peter Hillman Categories: PhotographyTags: Nature, Nature Photography, Slime moulds, south staffordshire wildlife, Trichia botrytis 31 Comments

Coral Slime Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa

Whilst initially looking like ice crystals or coral, it is actually a slime mould – which is not a fungi but belongs to the kingdom Protozoa – single-celled organisms.

This colony was found covering a large area of a fallen and decaying tree trunk.

Although many slime mold species fruit on wood they do not form a penetrating and absorptive mass of hyphae in the wood substrate, but form structures called plasmodia which are naked (without cell walls) masses of protoplasm which can move and engulf particles of food in an amoeboid manner. Slime mold plasmodia creep about over the surfaces of materials, engulfing bacteria, spores of fungi and plants, protozoa, and particles of nonliving organic matter. At some point, plasmodia convert into spore-bearing structures.