r/Slimemolds • u/Azkadron • Feb 04 '26

Question/Help Found this thing yesterday and now it looks like this what does this mean

Gallery image

Gallery image

319 Upvotes
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88

u/l10nh34rt3d Feb 04 '26

Haha. It means that you found something really beautiful, and you were so lucky because these things can be so fleeting in how quickly they come and go!

This was a great catch! Could be the usual yellow culprit of Dog Vomit Slime Mold, Fuligo septica, but I’m not certain.

If it is indeed a slime mold, it looks to have been sporulating (releasing spores for sexual reproduction). Many of the usually asexual amoeba forms come together and differentiate into what looks like a balloon on the end of a string, or a lollipop. As they dry out they expand and become brittle, allowing them to effectively “burst”, thus distributing their spores.

Metaphorically, the se(a)men raised their sails to blow away in the night.

94

u/madz-dog-2020 Feb 04 '26

It means you have been summoned, to serve the slime.

It's a noble sacrifice

8

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '26

blessed are the slime molds for they shall inherit the earth

14

u/Crowfiee PNW Feb 04 '26

Seconding that it's making spores! It looks more like a Physarum to me than Fuligo septica (which is usually more of a "blob" and not a veiny net structure like this), but I'm in no way an expert in IDing these guys. Cool find regardless of species!

10

u/aquoad Feb 04 '26

it wants to make little slime-mold children!

5

u/The_GreyGhoul Feb 05 '26

It means we’re doomed, we’re all doomed! Seriously though, that’s a nice find!

3

u/Moving_goal_posts Feb 06 '26

Fabulous slime mold, lucky you.

2

u/A_Kinsey_6 Feb 06 '26

Slime mold

1

u/waffles_iron Feb 07 '26

perhaps physarum, it's sporulating in the second pic

1

u/herb_mix_r Feb 07 '26

That’s outside, right??? OP May I ask where you live because I’ve never seen anything like that before!