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Phycomyces blakesleeanus
A type of pin mould which grows extremely tall compared to most. These were about 120mm. Overall they take on a grey or black appearance when fully grown and densely packed and are often described as 'mysterious hair' by confused gardeners.
On a bushland reserve walking track. Very sandy area with small eucalyptus mixed forest surrounds. This one on suspected doggy doo.
"Phycomyces are sensitive to different environmental signals including light, gravity, wind, chemicals and adjacent objects....
Phycomyces also exhibits an avoidance response, in which the growing sporangiophore avoids solid objects in its path, bending away from them without touching them, and then continuing to grow upward again. This is believed to result from an unidentified "avoidance gas" that is emitted by the growing zone of the sporangiophore. This gas would concentrate in the airspace between the Phycomyces and the object. This higher concentration would be detected by the side of the sporangiophore's growing zone, which would grow faster, causing the sporangiophore to bend away." - Wikipedia
Phycomyces blakesleeanus became the primary organism of research of the Nobel laureate Max Delbrück
Spotted on Jul 23, 2018
Submitted on Jul 23, 2019
2 Comments
Ha ha! There's science in everything.
Nice find, Mark! A hairy turd :)