Slime Mold Time Changes

General Obs: Raining on and off the past few days, the slime mold was in a drier hillside under some trees but the stick I found it on was fairly damp. Between the first obs. and the second obs. there was a break in the rain for about 2-3 hours.
This is just to document how fast a slime mold can change. The first observation shows the plasmodium beginning to form the fruiting body, you can see the 'veins' leading to the sacs. When I touched them they were like yogurt, oozing together and not holding their form. Originally they were bright yellow, and had no true 'stalks'.
The second observation is from only 3 or so hours later, it had completely changed! My camera couldn't quite pick this up, but it was bright orange (near Cheeto color) and had formed sacs with a white 'stalk'. Now when I picked them they were hard, nothing like my first observation, and if I squeezed them they would pop and yellow plasmodium would ooze out.

It's just amazing how fast a a slime mold can react to changes in its environment, the friends I dragged to look at the slime mold with me were shocked. It also vindicates my decision when I observe a slime mold to observe it daily/as often as I can, things change fast!

Publicado el 05 de noviembre de 2021 por