In 1973 Dallas, Texas, Mrs. Marie Harris called firefighters about an ominous yellow blob that was attacking a telephone pole by her place. According to news reports, the firefighters “tried to subdue it with hoses, but the creature grew bigger and climbed up the pole.” Locals feared an alien invasion. Yellow blobs were appearing on peoples’ lawns. Now a giant yellow blob was ‘eating’ the telephone pole!

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Luckily, before things got out of hand and the Dallas community went into full panic mode, Dr. Fannie Hurst, botanist at Baylor University, and Jerry Flook, herbarium botanist at Southern Methodist University, identified the interloper as the common slime mold Fuligo septica (affectionately known by some as Dog vomit slime mold and Scrambled Egg slime mold by others).

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Slime molds are bizarre life forms, once classified as fungus—because they sort of looked like fungi. Unlike a fungus that is not capable of absorbing and digesting their food internally, a slime mold can; they conduct phagocytosis—just like the amoeba I studied in school. slime molds are made up of amoeboid organisms currently classified under the polyphyletic grouping Mycetozoa belonging to the Kingdom Protista, which includes algae (e.g. diatoms) and protozoans (e.g., Paramecium). Fungi also don’t move, but slime molds do.

Fuligo septica is a bright yellow or white, cushion-shaped, great big single-celled organism with multiple nuclei (a plsmodial slime mold) that feeds on bacteria and fungi in decaying organic matter. It belongs to the Myxomycetes, the true slime molds, and is commonly found on rotten wood, plant debris, and bark mulch during warm, wet weather. The jelly-like plasmodium crawls, moving like an amoeba, as it feeds until it matures into a rigid, spore-producing structure.

The fruiting bodies of F. septica are large, yellowish sponge-like called an aethalium, which produce spores. The aethalium is a specialized, sessile, cushion-shaped structure without a stalk. The spores are violet-black.

Slime molds come in many different shapes and colours—some being bright neon—varying from yellow, pink, green, brown, black and white. Their names are as flamboyant and distinctive as their colours. Names like: Moon Poo Slime, Wolf’s Milk Slime, Tree Hair Slime, Bubble Gum Slime, Tapioca Slime, and Chocolate Tube Slime.

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All to say that these ‘blobs’ are indeed harmless and won’t be taking over the planet any time soon. However, do keep in mind that ‘taking over the planet’ can be interpreted in many different ways:

“The slime mold doesn’t need to stomp or punch; it just spreads and consumes and fruits, expanding the microcosmos in its own body as it stakes a claim in our world.”—James Weiss and Deboki Chakravarti, Journey to the Micro Cosmos

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References:

Smith, H.R. 2023. “A Slime of One’s Own.” Bay Nature magazine, January 3, 2023.

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