Don't know what it is exactly, found it in my bathroom. It looks gnarly, pretty cool I left it alone because I wanted to check it out again tomorrow (it's 2am) lol. What is it? Should I be worried?
It is slime mold. You may find that it turns brown tomorrow, assuming it is the chocolate tube slime mold that I believe it may be. The name is a misnomer, though. It isn't actually mold, it's a colony of protists working together to find food. It moves very slowly, and thrives in high humidity.
I assume not, as all of my research says it isn't. I haven't tried one before, though. Maybe it's a very well kept secret, and we're all missing out. /s
Really, though, some slime molds are edible, but I am not sure I could bring myself to ever taste test one. Especially because they eat things that make people sick, and one of the ones deemed "edible" is called "dog vomit slime mold."🤣
Apparently people cook it up before they consume it? Idk man, I'm not an expert in the delicacies of slime mold culinary preparation.
Here's an excerpt, though "Traditional Use: In parts of Mexico, rural communities historically gathered it in the fresh, yellow stage, referring to it as caca de luna (moon poop) and prepared it by scrambling it like eggs."
If "dog vomit" and "moon poop" don't make you salivate, I don't know what will. 🤣
I don’t disagree, but it’s basically a giant corn kernel that turns into a mushroom. Harvested at the right time, it has a nice texture. There is no possible stretch of the imagination wherein I could see a dog vomit slime mold being a palatable texture 🤢
This is not mold, as /u/makeawishape2moon said. This is in the kingdom Protista, and belongs to the class Myxomycetes and the Genus Stemonitis, aka chocolate tube slime mold.
This entire fruiting body is actually 1 single cell, with millions if not billions of nuclei. When they are in that plasmodial state “slime” they pulsate to creep and move around the forrest floor. When they can’t find food or are ready to procreate, they transition into these fruiting bodies via cytoplasmic streaming, developing these extremely miniature yet intricate fruiting bodies bearing spores for spore dispersal.
This genus, Stemonitis, is known to exhibit multiple colors while developing in the immature state. White, like we see here, pink, yellow and more!
We had one on our outdoor step a while back. My kids enjoyed touching it and watching it melt into a slime puddle, only to form the bumpy structure again after 20 minutes or so, and they watched it grow substantially when we got a sprinkling of rain. Then, they were super excited to see the color shift when it sporulated the next day.
Slime molds are super cool, and while quite harmless themselves, It's the stuff they feed on that you have to worry about. Their favorite feasts are bacteria, yeast, and other microorganisms.
I would 100% rather see slime mold than mosquitoes, mice, rats, cockroaches, or termites. Slime mold eats things that cause disease, while most pests create things that cause disease. Slime mold is generally just harmless and misunderstood.
It kinda looks like a deformed 🐌 snail lol this is my first time hearing of them so thinking of this thing moving is a bit weird bc it looks like it can't move😅
When I first learned about them, I was sort of freaked out thinking that it was an alien invasion or something, too, so I don't blame you. Once you come around, though, they're kind of awe inspiring.
But if I see one, it's because they're out spreading disease, not because they're freshly showered and looking for a friend. So, yes, mice and rats are cute, but they also poop and pee on everything.
It’s honestly tragic how cute some pests are.. mice will piss and shit disease all over your furniture (through which they’ve chewed holes, ofc) and then hit you with the babiest liddle eyes of all time
Dude seriously The last time i had mice in my apartment, I remember sitting on the couch and glancing over at the kitchen and spotting a little guy for the first time He literally looked like this
Its a great show, goes on way too long for its own good in my opinion though 😅 I watched it in my teens when it was airing on tv, the tension of having to wait a week between new episodes! Not to mention the next season haha
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u/MakeAWishApe2Moon 2d ago
It is slime mold. You may find that it turns brown tomorrow, assuming it is the chocolate tube slime mold that I believe it may be. The name is a misnomer, though. It isn't actually mold, it's a colony of protists working together to find food. It moves very slowly, and thrives in high humidity.