Life on my BBQ...Fungi or Mold?

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 5:39 am

Well, it was cold and damp out yesterday and I had a little work to do out in the yard, so I thought I would cook something on the grill for lunch. The grill is a few years old, I do not cover it and all summer it gets dripped on by the roof gutter. As I was cooking , I noticed these little yellow blobs on the wood part of the grill, "grab the camera" I said. I also found a few other interesting things. They do not look like anything I ate off the grill this summer

. You just never know where you will find stuff to take pictures of.

1/80
F4.5
Field of view 2.5cm

1/100
F4.5
Black glob is 7mm...30% crop

1/60
F6.3
about 15mm long.....30% crop

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 2:41 pm

Don't want to get your hopes up but the first and the second sure look like they could be myxo's, especially the second. The third possibly but my bet is on a jelly fungi, however, you never know. Interesting shots though Doug

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:30 pm

I was gonna say myxos too, or old cooking fat

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:32 pm

I`m getting excited $\:D/$ I went and checked on the specimens today and they seemed to be drying up rather severely. The black one was gone, the yellow globs and the flesh colored one were very desiccated. The wood was drying out and there was no more rain falling today so I think they are going to be short lived

. I also got "THE BOOK" today

but for some reason the plates that are supposed to be in color are black & white

Thanks Ken

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:34 pm

Indeed it could be left overs from Dougs gorgings but since he mentioned it being on the wood part of the grill and there is evidence of moss and algae growing there I figure it was worth speculation. However first and third could be left over grease and the second burned BBQ sauce. So much for Dougs chance of finding myxo's

Sorry Doug

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 5:06 pm

Glad to read that you got the book there Doug. The color plates are nice but not neccessary, it is the information in print that is most valuable as are some of the black and white images and drawings that are featured on various pages. Download this link and keep it handy on CD, it will be of more value as far as myxo images go.

http://www.plant.uga.edu/mycology-herbarium/myxogal.htm

Also seeing as how the fungi or what ever it was has up and moved I retract that last comment on what you photographed as being left overs. However, Cyclops did pose some interesting and possible theories which did seem quite logical, however, if they indeed were left overs and they did get up and move...well thats another story altogether. Down here we shoot what we grill first or run over it out on the highway.

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 5:30 pm

You guys sure know how to burst my myxo bubble

Here I am trying to make scientific history and get one of these things named after me and all you guys can do is make jokes

Well, I hope you guys ...don`t take me to seriously

Thanks for the link Ken

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 5:50 pm

Could this have been what was growing on your grill? Looks similar.
http://www.plant.uga.edu/mycology-herba ... ndtub2.jpg It's on the myxo link I gave you.

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 6:03 pm

It sure looks like it...but would they Disappear or shrink that fast....do you think it moved to a wetter location? If you look at my picture, it looks like it might be oozing out from a Sclerotium.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 6:13 pm

It is quite possible that it disappeared that quickly, myxo's don't usually hang around long. I have collected some that disappeared from the substrate in a couple of days and then there are others I have had over a year or more now. There are also a number of very small beetles that eat myxo's too, they are referenced in your new book, if you have "Myxomycetes, A Handbook of Slime Molds."

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 6:24 pm

If you look at the second picture, 11 oclock to the black mass, it looks like a spot where no moss is growing...could have been where the mass was coming from and where it last ate

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 6:48 pm

Dunno, could be a number of things.

The plasmodia are the only things I know that eat and it is usually bacteria, bacterial spores, other myxo's and their spores, and a sundry of other organic material, usually particulates. Then again it maybe a spot of plasmodial remains or then again not really much of anything. That is what makes myxo's so mysterious. You cannot predict them, their activities can be somewhat bizzare, and they often do the unexpected, at least from my observations, and the plasmodia do have a form of intellegence which makes them do things that seem odd to us. I have seen hundreds of fruiting bodies...just disappear overnight. They either must die out and decay or something has disturbed or eaten them. I read in the book that in some areas of the world the plasmodia can get so large that some native people eat them.

Anyway it sure is fun trying to figure the little buggers out and they are so beautiful. Just wait until spring and you go out and finally find a bunch of them around the cracks and crevices of an old damp stump, amazing!

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:26 pm

Very interesting subjects Doug. The only one that I would think that would fit the myxo status would be the center subject at the end of its life. I have seen many decay into a black mass as in Kens recent images. Maybe Ken can entighten us as to whether he was able to extract spores from his samples when they were in that condition. I admit that I never have. If so this would be some sort of verification.

Walt

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 3:35 am

Walt replied:

Maybe Ken can entighten us as to whether he was able to extract spores from his samples when they were in that condition.

Never have tried that guys, something to think about though the next time I run across them.