Slime Mold
A couple of days ago, Rowan found what I took to be a slime mold growing on the end of a cut log. I took the following picture of a part of it:
I did not have my macro flash and it was located in a rather shaded part of the park, so I was unable to get a good photo of it. “No problem,” I thought. I’ll just come back and get another picture later.
So I went back today with my macro flash to get a better picture. What I found was completely different. Here is the photo I got today:
It appears that a millipede or something was eating on it. There was another one on a separate glob of it. This change occured in less than 48 hours.
Slime molds seem like pretty interesting oraganisms. I would like to find out more. Maybe someone who happens across this entry can shed some light on what was going on with this.
[...] One the return, I noticed some of the yellow slime mold that appeared to be the same kind that I had noticed previously in the park. It looks like it has some fairly solid form, but when I touched it, it was pure slime, with no significant structure to resist my touch. [...]
Pingback by SitkaNature » Hiking up Indian River Valley — June 9, 2006 @ 10:39 pm
[...] Last Saturday I stopped by the slime mold Rowan found a couple of weeks ago. The photo at the top of this entry shows what remains. I touched it lightly and saw spores come off. I did not stop by between then and now, so I am uncertain what, if any, intermediate stages occured. [...]
Pingback by SitkaNature » Slime Mold Update — June 19, 2006 @ 9:50 pm