The world’s oldest mummies buried more than 7,000 years ago in the arid desert of
northern Chile are being turned into black slime by climate change.
Scientists
have found that growing humidity can cause an explosion of bacteria
living on the preserved skin of the Chinchorro mummies.The bacteria then
feeds on the ancient skin, causing it to break down into a black slime. Photo credit: Vivien Standen
Aseroe rubra, commonly known as
the anemone stinkhorn, sea anemone fungus and starfish fungus, is a
common and widespread basidiomycete fungus recognizable for its foul
odour of carrion and its sea anemone shape when mature.
It produces its spores in a nasty-smelling slime that attracts flies and
other insects, which crawl around in the slime, picking up the spores
on their feet and dispersing them on whatever the flies land on. Gross,
but pretty cool stuff!
It’s not edible in any way shape or form.
Images sourced on Google and credited to: Dave Roberts and Forest-Imp
Slime mold on mushroom
Tiny fruiting bodies (sporocarps) of the cosmopolitan slime mold Cribraria, maybe Cribraria intricata (Cribrariaceae), growing on the cap of an unidentified mushroom. There’s also Ceratiomyxa slime mold below the fungus.
References: [1] – [2] Photo: ©Kim Fleming Locality: unknown
Red raspberry slime mold.
סלומה 